Shovels are set to hit the dirt Friday in south Kankakee, as QuikTrip prepares to break ground on a $20 million travel-center-style gas station and convenience store at 1340 May Road. The project, at the northeast corner of RiverStone Parkway and U.S. Routes 45/52, will feature a 5,400-square-foot store, a future QT Kitchen, eight gasoline pumps, and four diesel pumps. City officials say construction is expected to take about 40 weeks, and the site should create roughly 20 to 25 full- and part-time jobs. An official groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday.
According to the Shaw Local Daily Journal, the development represents a $20 million private investment that city leaders say "culminates nearly five years of planning, collaboration, engineering and development efforts" between QuikTrip, the City of Kankakee, the Economic Development Agency and state partners. Mayor Chris Curtis called the groundbreaking "much more than the start of construction," framing it as a vote of confidence in the city's south corridor. Barbara Brewer-Watson, the EDA's executive director, said landing a nationally recognized company like QuikTrip would "create jobs, generate new economic activity, and serve as a catalyst for continued development."
At the RiverStone Parkway corridor
The QuikTrip site falls within the RiverStone Parkway tax-increment finance district, which the city's economic development arm says carries more than 20,000 vehicles per day and already includes anchors such as Walmart and Hilton Garden Inn, per the City of Kankakee ECDA. County planners have also highlighted a series of improvements along U.S. 45/52 and I-57 aimed at supporting growth in the area. The broader interstate redevelopment work is outlined by Kankakee County Economic Development. Officials say these corridor upgrades should help solve the infrastructure and access headaches that slowed the QuikTrip project for years.
How QuikTrip fits
Tulsa-based QuikTrip has been expanding in Illinois and across the country with larger travel centers and updated convenience-store designs that include QT Kitchens. Industry coverage notes the chain has passed roughly 1,200 locations and has been active in Illinois this year with travel-center projects, according to C-Store Dive. Kankakee's planned site mirrors that travel-center model on a smaller footprint and is positioned to serve both neighborhood customers and interstate drivers.
Timeline and what to watch
City officials estimate construction will take about 40 weeks, which would put an opening sometime in 2027 if the schedule holds, per the Shaw Local Daily Journal. Local leaders and the EDA are pointing to the QuikTrip deal as proof that long-term planning and public-private cooperation can attract larger-scale private investment. Residents can expect increased construction activity and some traffic adjustments on and near U.S. 45/52 over the coming year as site utilities, access improvements, and related corridor work move forward.
