Enormously Popular Restaurant Adding New Joliet Location: 5 Construction Photos

JOLIET, IL — A noteworthy redevelopment construction project is well underway along Larkin Avenue in Joliet near the Sam's Club retail store as the demolished Steak 'n Shake property is now being turned into a new Chick-fil-A restaurant.

In August, Chick-fil-A proposed tearing down the existing empty restaurant building at 201 South Larkin Avenue and redeveloping the site with a new, 5,000-square-foot freestanding restaurant and dual drive-thru lanes, plus an outdoor seating area and parking lot.

The chain, known for its chicken sandwiches, will replace the Larkin Avenue Steak 'n Shake restaurant, which closed for the third time after last reopening in 2022. That location had closed in 2019 before reopening in early 2021, only to close again. It reopened again in August 2022 as a drive-thru and curbside pickup only location, but that also didn't last.

The new Joliet Chick-fil-A anticipates opening in late summer. Joliet landed its first Chick-fil-A in January 2021 when the restaurant was built along Plainfield Road on the site of the former Lone Star Steakhouse.