Tigard is getting a Chick-fil-A, and newly filed city permits suggest exactly where it will land: somewhere near the intersection of Pacific Highway and Gaarde Street, a stretch of road with two separate Gaarde branches crossing the highway within a block of each other. Construction has not yet begun, but the paperwork is already moving through review.
Permits Point to a Specific Address, But Not a Specific Corner
According to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Chick-fil-A has filed permits with the City of Tigard for construction of a new restaurant, with a permit address listed as 10850 S.W. Gaarde St. The catch, per the same report from reporter Dave Killen, is that the permits do not specify which of Gaarde Street's two branches the address actually falls on, since the road splits into a northern and southern segment that each intersect Pacific Highway close together.
Piecing together the available clues, the outlet reports the likely site sits at the southwest corner of Pacific Highway and the southern branch of Gaarde Street. That spot would place the future restaurant in front of and uphill from a JR Furniture and Mattress store. A service road currently runs between that store's parking lot and Pacific Highway, and the report notes construction would presumably affect that road once work begins.
An Existing Elmer's Helps Narrow Down the Site
One detail helped rule out the other candidate location: an existing Elmer's restaurant abuts the northern branch of Gaarde Street, which appears to rule out that branch as the Chick-fil-A site. The city's interactive permit map appears to reveal the location at the intersection of southwest Gaarde Street and Pacific Highway, though the exact footprint remains to be confirmed once ground is broken. A site visit by the outlet confirmed construction had yet to begin as of the report, with the permits still under review.
Pacific Highway, also known as Highway 99W, is a major commercial artery through Tigard that carries heavy traffic volume through the area. The City of Tigard maintains photo enforcement cameras at SW 72nd Ave, SW Hall Blvd, and SW Durham Rd along the corridor to address red-light and speeding safety concerns, underscoring how congested the stretch already is before a new drive-thru enters the mix.
Part Of A Bigger Washington County Push
The Tigard project fits into a much larger expansion effort. In October 2025, Chick-fil-A, Inc. announced plans to open six new locations across Oregon by early 2027, expanding its state footprint by more than 40% and creating over 600 jobs in cities including Tigard, Portland, Wood Village, and Cornelius. The chain first entered Oregon in 2016 with its debut Hillsboro location, and had operated just 14 statewide restaurants before launching this growth push, as reported by Nation's Restaurant News.
Nearby Washington County cities have already seen the chain move in. Chick-fil-A opened a drive-thru-only restaurant in Sherwood in October 2025, operated by local franchisee Jeffrey Weston, part of the company's broader corridor growth strategy. In July 2025, the chain also expanded into Lake Oswego by converting the former Stanford's Restaurant space on Kruse Oaks Boulevard, later completing a $6.57 million ground lease transaction for the site, according to SRS Real Estate Partners.
Contrast With Portland's Drive-Thru Restrictions
Not every recent Chick-fil-A opening has come with a drive-thru. Portland got its first standalone location within city limits in January 2026 in the Gateway/Mall 205 district — built without a drive-thru window in accordance with municipal restrictions, a site that previously housed adult entertainment venues. Tigard's suburban zoning allows for the drive-thru model the chain has favored elsewhere in Washington County.
That expansion hasn't gone smoothly everywhere. A proposed drive-thru Chick-fil-A on Molalla Avenue in Oregon City hit regulatory snags in April 2026 after city staff determined the plan exceeded land disturbance limits inside a mapped geologic landslide hazard buffer, with the developer proposing soldier-pile walls into bedrock to address slope stability concerns. Meanwhile in Hillsboro, redevelopers at The Point at Hillsboro announced Chick-fil-A as an upcoming tenant alongside Chili's in June 2026, part of a multi-phase effort to revive the long-vacant former outlet mall property.
Nationally, Chick-fil-A has been on a tear, operating approximately 3,784 locations across the United States as of August 2026 and adding more than 400 net domestic locations since late 2024, according to data from Cobroker. For now, Tigard residents will have to watch the permit process play out to learn exactly which corner of Pacific Highway and Gaarde Street will host the city's newest fast-food arrival.
