Construction is underway on the lot next to Lowe’s to bring Danville a Chick-fil-A of its own. Although it is in the early stages of construction, hopeful estimates put the chicken joint opening its doors before the end of the year.

Economic Development Cooperation President and CEO JJ Harris explained that the majority of the construction currently in the area is putting in infrastructure for future builds and that rumors of other restaurants or businesses are purely speculation.

“A lot of the dirt work is putting in underground infrastructure for future buildings and tenets,” Harris said. “We’ll see more of that come because the hotels are here, we are getting a lot of people working. It is great that we have that interest and demand but there are no signed deals yet.”

He hopes future businesses can have a symbiotic relationship with existing businesses in town.

“At the Economic Development Corporation we always want to compliment and grow our existing businesses,” Harris said. “We have to have a solid foundation where we take care of our existing businesses and have an environment where they are productive and make a profit. That attracts people and allows future developments of business and industry.”

The EDC has a goal of bringing in cleaner industry and higher wage jobs to Danville.

“We want to develop land and infrastructure to support our higher wage jobs,” Harris said. “We want people to be able to come here and build homes. They support the secondary businesses like restaurants. They keep the commerce growing. It is very good for our economy to have these industries and have more options.”

The development will have new roads paved and allow access from two signalized intersections off the bypass. City Engineer Josh Morgan explained that the city is working with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to make the area safer.

“Locally, we know that both of those intersections have issues that need to be improved so we will work closely with KYTC to make them as safe as possible,” Morgan said. “There are two projects ongoing that will be looking closely at these intersections. KYTC is conducting a Corridor Study of U.S. 150 from Danville to Stanford, which includes this section of the Bypass.”