It’s official. Chick-fil-A is adding a location on KY 54, at the old Bob Evans site in front of Walmart. Ross Hyland, whose company Lark Electric is contracted to do work on the new building, confirmed Thursday that construction is expected to start next month and wrap up by the middle of this year.
Permits were issued on January 19 to both Lark Electric and Thorndale Construction Services to do work on the new building. Project officials at Thorndale, a company based in Illinois, could not be reached by the time this article was published.
Hyland confirmed the work was for a new Chick-fil-A restaurant.
“We are honored and excited to be able to work with Chick-fil-A,” Hyland said. “This restaurant is much-needed.”
According to Lark and documents previously obtained by Owensboro Times, the Chick-fil-A site will span what were previously two adjacent properties — as 3123 and 3107 KY 54 have been combined into a single track. That’s the site of the former Bob Evans restaurant plus the lot directly west, respectively. The portion of the property that is currently a hill with no building will be leveled and turned into a parking lot.
Owensboro Times first broke the news that Chick-fil-A was looking into a new location in December 2021. That spokesperson has said multiple times in recent months that they had no further comment. OT reached out again Thursday but had not received a response by the time this article was published.
Rumors began swirling in mid-2022 that Chick-fil-A could choose the former Bob Evans spot, and OT was the first to report in August 2022 that documents had been filed that indicated the restaurant was indeed eyeing that location.
OT also gained access to a Final Development Plan that Chick-fil-A submitted to the Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission.
Per the Final Development Plan, Chick-fil-A’s building will sit on the far east side of the property, and the entrance would be perpendicular to KY 54 (meaning it would face west toward the parking lot). The entry/exit will be in the same location as it was for Bob Evans, at the southeast corner of the Walmart parking lot.
The double-lane drive-thru would function similarly to the Chick-fil-A on Frederica Street. It essentially circles the outside of the property, with drivers picking up their food under a covered area on the back side of the building (the side facing Murphy USA gas station). The site will also have roughly 50 parking spaces.
The property is owned by California businessman Jacob Fedder, who purchased the lots at 3107 and 3123 KY 54 for $2.1 million on July 14, 2021 under the Mali 54 LLC.
Fedder is also the man behind bringing Chipotle to south Frederica Street. He purchased that lot (4911 Frederica Street) for $1.15 million under the Mali Frederica LLC on May 28, 2021. Chipotle opened a location there at the end of June 2022.
Owensboro’s current Chick-fil-A, located at 4601 Frederica Street, opened in November 2009.