Kenny Custer, East Ridge's chief building and fire code official looks over the inch-thick plans for a new Chick-fil-A in East Ridge near Exit 1 on I-75.Chick-fil-A plans to open a new restaurant in East Ridge on Camp Jordan Parkway near Exit 1 in the Bass Pro-anchored Jordan Crossing shopping center.
The Atlanta-based fast-food chain has submitted plans and applied for a building permit from East Ridge for a 5,000-square-foot restaurant with inside seating for 120 people and two drive-through lanes long enough to hold a line 35 vehicles long.
It will be built in front of an 88-room Hampton Inn under construction by Chattanooga-based Vision Hospitality Group Inc.
"We're excited about it," said Kenny Custer, East Ridge's chief building and fire code official. "It's going to be great for the sports community."
The restaurant's construction value is $850,000, said city Building Inspector Michael Howell.
Officials from Chick-fil-A and Jordan Crossing couldn't immediately be reached for comment Friday afternoon to say when construction will start on Chick-fil-A and when the restaurant will open.
The Chick-fil-A is a win for the city and the developers of the shopping center, which has been slow to fill with tenants, since it's been hamstrung by difficulty of access from I-75 and a limit on sewage capacity.
Until now, only the Bass Pro and the Hampton Inn have been announced as tenants for Jordan Crossing, which was supposed to offer 300,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and hotels on 50 acres.
Jordan Crossing is subsidized through a Tennessee law meant to encourage retail development in cities just inside the state border.
The city of East Ridge has committed roughly $11 million to the development, including money for Camp Jordan Parkway improvements, construction of a new fire hall, acquisition of land from TDOT and site work on what once was low- lying forest near cranky Chickamauga Creek.
The only way the new Hampton Inn could be built near Camp Jordan was to tear down an existing hotel - America's Best Value Inn - so its sewage use could be credited toward the new hotel.
Lack of freeway access has been the biggest holdup for new businesses, one of the shopping center's developers, Matt Wood, said in May.
But he said a new intersection that should be finished around Thanksgiving will come straight off I-75 and take drivers directly to Jordan Crossing, with two lanes coming in and two lanes coming out.
The sewer service is being improved, Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority (WWTA) Mark Harrison said in May. WWTA has worked to fix sewer pipes to reduce the amount of infiltration and inflow from rainwater, which causes overflows, Harrison said.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or on Twitter @meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.