Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

CHELSEA ­– A Chick-fil-A has been confirmed to be officially coming to the city of Chelsea within the coming years according to Chelsea Mayor Tony Picklesimer.

During Picklesimer’s final State of the City address at the Chelsea Community Center on Tuesday, Oct. 7, Picklesimer discussed the major happenings to do with the city’s retail landscape, within which he addressed the Chelsea Plaza.

“The business incentive package for Chelsea Plaza has been approved by the City Council and demolition and dirt moving has begun,” Picklesimer said. “It will be anchored by the ‘Lord’s chicken,’ Chick-fil-A.”

The Chick-fil-A will sit as the anchor tenant to the development and will be the forefront of the property plat that sits directly next to U.S. Highway 280, which is also set to have a traffic signal built at it to help ease the flow of traffic.

“It is on the plat to be on that corner where the Citgo was,” Picklesimer said. “A lot of dirt work has got to be done. There’s going to be a connector road between Chesser Crane and Highway 280 that has to be built through there and that intersection will be signalized by ALDOT, so that project is probably at least 18 to 24 months away as well.”

The Chelsea Plaza is a retail development center that will sit off of the eastbound lane of Hwy 280 near the intersection of Chesser Plantation Lane and the highway itself. The plaza is set to host numerous businesses and restaurants aside from Chick-fil-A, one that is expected to be a popular commodity in the city.

The property will consist of 14.5 acres, with the conceptual plan calling for 16 multi-tenant suites ranging from 1,000 to 20,000. square feet. The total investment for the project is estimated to be in excess of $75 million, which makes it the largest single development in the history of Chelsea.

During a regularly scheduled Chelsea City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 17, the council approved an economic tax incentive agreement with Bash & Co. LLC.

The meeting saw Picklesimer state the city will not assume any ongoing financial risk and any upfront immediate cost and that the city’s borrowing capacity, ratings and budgets will not be impacted in any way.

As part of the agreement, the developer will gain 3 cents of the total 5 cents on each dollar of retail sales. Chelsea will keep 2 cents of the sales tax with 1 going towards the 1-cent educational tax. It will carry until the monetary amount reaches $20 million or the development’s services hit 20 years of business.

The Chick-fil-A location in Chelsea will mark the 100th location within the state of Alabama should no other ones be built within its projected construction timeframe.

Chick-fil-A representatives have not confirmed the opening of a new location in Chelsea at this time.

More updates on the Chelsea Plaza will become available as they are provided at Shelbycountyreporter.com.