Fans of their signature sandwiches, waffle fries and fresh lemonade will be pleased to learn that Chick-fil-A has formally applied with the city of Kelso to open a new dual drive-thru location in the mall parking lot.
But just like most drive-thrus these days, Chick-fil-A fans may have a wait ahead of them. According to documents filed on the city of Kelso's Building and Planning website, construction won't hit its stride until next year.
"Full project buildout is expected in 2027," states a traffic impact analysis dated Jan. 30.
The proposal for a dual drive-thru store in the Three Rivers Crossing parking lot — and the related groundwork and excavation — most recently cleared a routine environmental hurdle when the city issued a Notice of Mitigated Determination of Non-significance and Notice of Application last week.
The notice issued by the Building and Planning Department describes plans to build a 4,841-square-foot restaurant with multiple drive-thru lanes on a 0.9 acre section of the parking lot off the northeastern corner of the mall. It makes reference to both the construction project and a separate building permit to move a storm drain pipe in the construction zone and connect the infrastructure to an existing manhole near the JCPenney parking lot.
According to the traffic impact analysis on the city's building permits website, the Chick-fil-A is destined for a section that is near the JCPenney parking lot and directly south of the Target.
The Atlanta-based chain previously filed a pre-application with the city nearly a year ago. According to an earlier news report, the pre-application was mentioned as an aside in a March 2025 Kelso City Council meeting but had few other details.
On Oct. 22, a formal land-use application was filed with the city of Kelso on Oct. 22 related to demolishing an existing parking lot at the northeast corner of the mall and building a new 4,841-square-foot Chick-fil-A restaurant with two drive-thru lanes and two canopies.
On Feb. 19, Kelso Community Development completed a review of its environmental checklist on the project, and determined that no environmental impact statement would be necessary for the first phase of the development. Under state law, Kelso Community Development's determination of non-significance triggers a 15-day comment period. Written comments must be received no later than 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 6.
A message to Chick-fil-A's restaurant openings press team was not returned Thursday, but the fast-growing chicken chain typically only announces its new locations days before they are ready to open. In other recent press releases, Chick-fil-A describes themselves as the "third largest quick-service restaurant company in the United States."
According to industry publication QSR magazine, Chick-fil-A's sales are third behind McDonald's and Starbucks and ahead of fourth-place Taco Bell.
The chain boasts more than 3,000 restaurants across the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Singapore.
