The new Dick’s Drive-In will be opening in Kent.
The popular burger chain plans to open its latest drive-in—the company’s seventh—late next year on Pacific Highway and South 242nd Street in Kent. The location was revealed on a live Facebook announcement Thursday morning.
Jim Spady, president of Dick’s Drive-In and son of late founder Dick Spady, said the eatery will be built on a vacant lot near the Lowe’s store next to Highway 99.
“The Kent property is in a great location on Highway 99, five miles south of Sea-Tac Airport,” Jim Spady said in a statement. “It’s a half-mile south of the intersection with the Kent-Des Moines highway and very close to Highline College in Des Moines. We look forward to bringing great food and great first-time jobs to the communities of south King County.”
The choice of Kent comes after Dick’s asked voters to decide earlier this year what area they would like the new restaurant to be located in—east or south of Seattle. The online poll attracted about 170,000 votes, with south of Seattle getting 60 percent of the ballots.
Kent beat out other area contenders—Auburn, Renton, Burien, Des Moines, SeaTac, Tukwila, Federal Way, West Seattle and Normandy Park—for the restaurant, Spady said.
“I so appreciate the can-do attitude by our economic development staff in addressing Dick’s criteria to invest in Kent,” Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke said in a statement. “What a great example of public and private sectors working together to bring an iconic family business for the public to experience and enjoy.”
The owners said they are still seeking building permits from Kent and hope to break ground later this year or early 2018.
The expansion is the first for the company since the Edmonds location opened in October 2011. Dick’s has five Seattle locations, including the original site that opened in 1954 in the Wallingford neighborhood.
According to the company, plans are for the Kent location to replicate the look of the Seattle outdoor drive-ins.
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The Federal Way Mirror contributed to this story.
