Another sign of Chick-fil-A’s imminent arrival came last month as Port of Centralia officials confirmed that the company had submitted building permits to the City of Centralia.
Port Executive Director Amy Graber informed Port Commissioners Ally Pickard and Peter Lahman during a June 19 meeting that the purchaser of the previously confirmed site of the new Chick-fil-A property had released the first necessary funds for the property.
The port reportedly was still working with the property purchasing company NWIW1 to secure the final easements and other details of the purchase.
“The purchaser did release $15,000 in escrow to the port, and I have been told that their tenant, Chick-fil-A, has submitted for their building permit and are just waiting approval from the City of Centralia,” Graber said. “So that project is moving along.”
The Chronicle was able to confirm the progress on the site after acquiring the many permit applications submitted for the project through a public records request to the City of Centralia.
The builders and expected tenants have submitted the necessary permits for everything from multiple signs for the new building to permits for water and wastewater.
The documents confirm that the site plan was approved by the city for code compliance earlier this year. The applicant did not specify dates for when it expects to release bids for construction of the site or when it plans to open.
The development simply confirms forward progress on the site and significant up-front financial investments into the site after the developers and Chick-fil-A have already begun paying invoices as they prepare for construction.
During the June 19 meeting, Commissioner Pickard briefly discussed a previous change to the expected tenants of Centralia Station, mentioning the change in location of the local Chipotle location while discussing another issue.
Chipotle had previously been announced as an expected tenant for another parcel within the Centralia Station development, but opened earlier when another location became available near the Centralia Safeway.
“Chipotle's name got out there, and then a different land developer said, ‘Hey, I have a space that's already built, already has a commercial kitchen, because Mod Pizza had already worked on a lot of those renovations,’” Pickard said. “And so they were choosing between being in a port property where they had to build, or basically move-in ready.”
As previously reported by The Chronicle, the Port of Centralia approved the building designs for the planned Chick-fil-A location during a May 6 meeting, allowing an exception to the Port Master Plan for slightly narrower driving lanes at the site.
For previous reporting by The Chronicle on the arrival of Chick-fil-A, visit https://tinyurl.com/2ufw9ae5.
