Opening day: Long anticipated 1st Tri-Cities Chick-Fil-A will open this week 

The first Tri-Cities Chick-fil-A has officially announced an opening date after weeks of speculation.

Workers removed fencing from the construction site, 7009 W. Canal, on Friday. The Atlanta-based chicken chain posted the restaurant would open in June on a business identifier posted to Google Maps, but at the time it did not give a date and would not confirm one making rounds online.

On Sunday, Chick-fil-A gave a Father’s Day gift to the Tri-Cities on social media, announcing they plan to open this week.

“We’re counting down the days! Our brand-new Chick-fil-A location at Canal Dr. and Columbia Center Blvd. opens this Thursday, June 19 — and we can’t wait to serve you, Tri-Cities!”

The Kennewick restaurant has a Facebook and Instagram page already set up, and ordering will be available on the Chick-fil-A app once the store has opened.

Chick-fil-A restaurants are typically open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, according to the company’s website.

The Benton Franklin Health District inspected the restaurant on June 4, a key step before it can open. Results were pending on Friday.

Dawn Hodges, a Kennewick entrepreneur and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, is the owner and operator of the much-anticipated addition to the Tri-Cities restaurant scene.

Chick-fil-A confirmed it would open its first store in the Tri-Cities a little more than a year ago. It settled on a former parking lot next to Wendy’s in the Hobby Lobby shopping center in western Kennewick.

They put the finishing touches on a 4,927-square-foot restaurant last week, which includes 99 parking stalls, seating for 76 and a covered dual-lane drive-thru. It began hiring more than a month ago.

Go to chick-fil-a.com for job postings.

It has reportedly scouted sites for a second restaurant in Richland’s Queensgate area.