Major Chick-fil-A expansion in Cape Girardeau

The Chick-fil-A restaurant at 3333 Gordonville Road in Cape Girardeau, near Saint Francis Medical Center, will soon expand its operation after acquisition from Drury Southwest of an adjacent parcel formerly occupied by an AT&T store.

The remnants of the store were demolished and site largely cleared of debris last week.

"It's been a 10-year process of trying to negotiate a deal and AT&T was gracious enough to relinquish the location and move across the street," said Brian House, who owns and operates the Cape Girardeau Chick-fil-A location.

House said a new dual lane pathway, capable of holding 80 cars, will be able to queue up to the drive-through once exterior alterations — with work to begin in early November — are completed by Jan. 1.

"We'll also reconfigure our current parking lot completely — we'll raise and elevate the former AT&T property, we'll move our dumpster areas and add an outbuilding for storage," said House, who noted his Chick-fil-A franchise will create 23 new permanent parking spaces on the property.

A crew removes debris Oct. 3 from the site of the former AT&T store on Gordonville Road in Cape Girardeau, recently acquired by Chick-fil-A. Ronald Kucera Jr. of Jackson acted as demolition contractor.Nathan English

"We may have to close the inside for about 10 days right around Thanksgiving because the parking area will be torn up," noted House, whose Cape Girardeau restaurant, specializing in its signature menu item of chicken sandwiches, opened Sept. 8, 2011. "We're very blessed to do the volume of business we do and this acquisition will help with the congestion and the stress we've been putting on our piece of property and on Gordonville Road. I don't know if we're the busiest restaurant in Cape Girardeau, but we're up there at the top, I would say."

House, who said the interior of the restaurant will be unaffected by the changes, noted 119 people, both full time and part time, are employed at his eatery.

College Park, Georgia-based Chick-fil-A, one of America's largest fast-food chains, has 2,836 restaurants under its banner with locations in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Debris is deposited into a tractor-trailer as the former AT&T site on Gordonville Road was cleared by Jackson demolition contractor Ronald Kucera Jr. on Oct. 3 to permit expansion of Chick-fil-A operations in Cape Girardeau.Submitted

Do you want more business news? Check out B Magazine, and the B Magazine email newsletter. Go to www.semissourian.com/newsletters to find out more.