New Chick-fil-A in Joliet would be built on site where homeless persons camp

Chick-fil-A may begin construction on its second Joliet restaurant in the spring, but city officials hope to do something sooner about a homelessness issue on the site.

The arrival of Chick-fil-A likely will inject new commercial energy into a stretch of South Larkin Avenue that is an entryway into Joliet off Interstate 80.

Chick-fil-A plans to take over a closed Steak ‘n Shake building that is located next to a vacant strip mall.

“We have a real problem with homeless in that particular area,” City Council member Suzanna Ibarra said at a Monday workshop meeting of the council. “We really, really need to figure out how they can secure the area where they are doing all this.

“There are unhoused people publicly urinating and spreading all of their wares everywhere.”

The council was expected to vote Tuesday on a drive-thru permit for the future Chick-fil-A at 201 S. Larkin Ave.

City Manager Beth Beatty noted Chick-fil-A does not own the property yet, but the city has been working on the homeless issue.

“They were able to get some people into shelters,” Beatty said. “But more have come, and they are not as receptive to our help.”

She said the city will work with the property owner to add some security to the site, although the only specific measure she mentioned was no-trespassing signs.

There is a no-loitering sign on the front end of the property.

On the back end is a small, white storage building where bags and other items on the outside show signs that people are at least lingering on the property.

Council member Jan Quillman said she noticed some strange activity at the storage building during a recent trip to the nearby Sam’s Club.

“There were people coming out of that little white area – about five or six guys,” Quillman said, adding that they were “looking pretty high.”

The closed Steak ‘n Shake is on an outlot of a shopping area that includes the Sam’s Club, one of the many businesses that make South Larkin Avenue a lively commercial district that coexists to some degree with the homeless population that has moved in.

Just north of the closed Steak ‘n Shake is a Taco Bell. Just south of it is the empty strip mall, where homeless people also appear to be active. But next to that is a Culver’s restaurant.

Chick-fil-A plans to demolish the Steak ‘n Shake building and construct its own 5,000-square-foot restaurant with dual drive-thru lanes.

A representative from the civil engineering firm that is working with Chick-fil-A was at the Monday meeting of the council’s Public Service Committee meeting, which reviewed the drive-thru proposal and recommended approval.

“We’re pretty early in the process,” Fernando Del Toro with HR Green, Inc. said after the committee meeting.

Del Toro said the plan is to start construction sometime in spring 2025, but no estimated opening date has been set.

It would be the second Joliet location for Chick-fil-A after one opened in January 2021 at 2705 Plainfield Road.

That restaurant opened to long lines of customers. On opening day, cars waiting to get in stretched beyond the Chick-fil-A parking lot and even outside the Joliet Commons shopping center where it is located.

The restaurant remains popular in Joliet. On Monday, a usually slow restaurant day, the drive-thru lines were busy and the parking lot was crowded.