New Chick-fil-A restaurant to open this week at busy intersection near Ponce City Market

(ATLANTA, Ga.) — A long-awaited Chick-fil-A in northeast Atlanta will finally open its doors this week.

The restaurant off the corner of Ponce de Leon Ave and Boulevard Ave will serve their first breakfast and Chick-fil-A sandwiches on Thursday. The property used to be the site of a Texaco gas station and sits right next to Popeyes.

The new Chick-fil-A location will bring 115 jobs to the area and will be operated by Jamerian Myles, whose first job was at Chick-fil-A when he was 16 years old.

“It was so important for me to create a legacy early in my life, from taking my first job in high school to being the first person in my family to pursue higher education,” said Myles. “I want to encourage young people in Atlanta to leave their own legacy, through some of the same experiences that I was so grateful to have.”

Although the fried chicken is almost always welcome, the specific nature of the building and development has its share of criticism. Josh Green of Urbanize Atlanta notes that the restaurant will open within the BeltLine Overlay District, a special-purpose zone meant to encourage more inclusive development, prioritizing pedestrians and greenspace instead drive-thrus.

Community input also resulted in the original design being tweaked in some ways, with the drive-thru lanes moved to the rear of the building, a pedestrian walk-up window, and a brick façade being included.

The restaurant will officially open starting with breakfast at 6:30 a.m.

Instead of the traditional “First 100″ event, the restaurant will provide free Chick-fil-A meals for a year to 100 people making a difference in the surrounding community.