Chick-fil-A to open new restaurant at Millbrook's 17 Springs marketplace

Millbrook added another major dining name to the 17 Springs development on July 14, when city and county leaders announced that Chick-fil-A had chosen Marketplace at 17 Springs for its newest restaurant. The project is planned as a 5,600-square-foot buildout with drive-thru service, an indoor dining room and a covered outdoor seating area, a format that should serve quick lunch traffic as well as families staying after games and events.

The new restaurant deepens the case for 17 Springs as more than a sports complex. Marketplace at 17 Springs is under construction on Alabama Highway 14, one mile east of Interstate 65 at Exit 181, directly south of the 17 Springs Sports Complex and off AL 14 between Kinsley Lane and Oak Tree Road. 17 Springs says the overall site covers more than 120 acres and is being designed as a dining, entertainment and lodging destination with restaurants, hotels, conference centers, a pedestrian plaza and mixed-use retail and residential lofts.

Mayor Al Kelley said Chick-fil-A is one of the most requested restaurants in the community, and the addition gives Millbrook another familiar option along a corridor that already draws commuters and visitors from across Central Alabama. Bart Mercer, chairman of the Elmore County Commission, said the deal reflected the success of the long-running partnership behind 17 Springs, pointing to the City of Millbrook, the county commission, the county school board, the Elmore County Economic Development Authority and the Grandview Family YMCA as key collaborators.

The development’s roots go back to 2017, when overlapping conversations among those same entities began what is now known as 17 Springs. The name itself came from a historic art festival once hosted on the YMCA property, a detail that ties the modern commercial buildout to a local identity that predates the current wave of construction.

Franchise owner Daniel Grier said his family has deep roots in the area and that his wife grew up in Millbrook and graduated from Stanhope Elmore High School. He said the family business has been in the area for 26 years, a local connection that gives the new restaurant a different feel from a standard chain expansion.

Chick-fil-A follows another food addition at the Marketplace. On June 17, 2026, officials said 1220 Café, a Tallassee restaurant, would join Baumhower’s Victory Grille in the tenant lineup. With those names in place and more space still under construction, 17 Springs is steadily filling in as a destination where shopping, dining and travel traffic now overlap.