Millbrook is getting a Culver's. The Wisconsin-based chain known for its ButterBurgers and Fresh Frozen Custard will build its newest Alabama restaurant at the Marketplace at 17 Springs, joining a growing commercial strip near the city's sports complex, with an opening anticipated in 2027.
The announcement, first reported by Elmore Autauga News, places the restaurant alongside a lineup that already includes Baumhower's Victory Grille, Chick-fil-A and 1220 Cafe. The outlet also reports that Southern Orthopaedic Surgeons is developing a new medical clinic at the same Marketplace, part of a broader build-out near Millbrook's 17 Springs Sports Complex. Culver's has not yet released a firm opening date; the outlet notes that additional details, including the anticipated opening date, will be announced as they become available.
According to AL.com, Culver's currently operates in Albertville, Auburn, Birmingham, Decatur, Florence, Foley, Hampton Cove, Hazel Green, Hoover, Huntsville, Madison, Mobile, Orange Beach, Oxford and Phenix City, and the Millbrook project would mark its next Alabama restaurant. Culver's operator Sean Henderson said the 17 Springs area has strong growth and community spirit, and that Culver's looks forward to creating jobs and building relationships in the community, per AL.com's reporting.
A Marketplace Taking Shape Near the Ballfields
The Marketplace sits next to a sports complex that has been under construction in phases for several years. The first phase, completed in 2023, features a dozen tennis and pickleball courts alongside four multipurpose fields, according to WSFA. A later phase added a retail and hospitality component, with a hotel and five restaurants committing to the project, the station reported. Baumhower's Victory Grille is one of those committed restaurants; WSFA has previously reported that the Millbrook location will be the company's newest prototype, featuring the largest TV walls in the area and a state-of-the-art entertainment package.
Culver's statewide footprint has grown steadily since the chain first arrived in Alabama. The company opened its first Alabama restaurant in Foley in 2018 and now has 16 locations across the state with more on the way, per Bama Buzz. Most of those locations sit north of Interstate 20, with five in the Huntsville metro area, the outlet notes. Nationally, Culver's started in 1984 and now has more than 1,000 locations across 26 states, according to a report from WAKA.
Other Alabama Projects in the Pipeline
Millbrook isn't the only Alabama city on Culver's expansion map right now. WAKA reports the chain is looking to build a restaurant on a piece of land on Chantilly Parkway in Montgomery, while Bama Buzz reports plans for the company's first Opelika location near the intersection of Samford Avenue and Lafayette Parkway — though that project is still out to bid for a general contractor, so a construction timeline hasn't been set.
Further north, a Culver's planned for Trussville on Chalkville Mountain Road at Trussville Crossings Road also had no announced opening timeline as of February, according to AL.com. And in Tuscaloosa, city officials approved an economic incentive package in June intended to bring a Culver's to a new commercial development off McFarland Boulevard, a project AL.com reported is projected to create up to 215 new or part-time jobs. Taken together, the projects show a chain still filling in gaps across a state it entered less than a decade ago, with Millbrook's 17 Springs now next in line.
