Mission BBQ, the Maryland-based, military-themed eatery that expanded to Colorado Springs last year, plans to add a second location on the city’s east side.

The fast-casual chain will construct a single-story, 4,620-square-foot stand-alone building in the parking lot of the Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse at the First & Main Town Center, northeast of Powers Boulevard and Constitution Avenue, according to a development plan submitted to city government officials.

The building would go up south of a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant and along New Center Point, an interior road that serves the First & Main shopping center, the proposal shows.

The project’s development schedule anticipates work on the building would begin in November and be completed in May 2025, according to a timetable included with the proposal.

Mission BBQ had submitted a preliminary plan to city officials in June 2023 that showed it was targeting a First & Main location; that submittal came around the time Mission BBQ opened its first Colorado Springs restaurant in a 1,850-square-foot space at the InterQuest Commons retail center, southwest of InterQuest and Voyager parkways.

A Mission BBQ spokeswoman didn’t respond directly to questions from The Gazette seeking more details about the chain’s second Springs restaurant, though she did acknowledge a First & Main location is in the works.

“We look forward to continuing to support this great community in the future with an additional location at the First & Main Town Center, which is still in the early stages of the development and planning process,” Linda Dotterer, Mission BBQ’s branding and community relations director, said via email.

Norwood Development Group, the Colorado Springs real estate company that developed First & Main, declined to comment on the Mission BBQ project.

Mission BBQ opened for business Sept. 11, 2011, on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. The chain now has just over 130 outlets in 19 states, its website shows; Mission BBQ’s Colorado Springs restaurant is its only location in Colorado.

The chain describes itself as “passionate about (barbecue) and patriotic for Our Country,” according to a statement on its website signed by founders Bill Kraus and Steve Newton.

“We believe there is nothing more American than BBQ. And nobody more American than the brave men and women who have sworn to protect and serve Our Communities and Our Country,” the statement says. ”We do what we do for the love of our soldiers, firefighters, police officers, first responders — all our loved ones in service.

”Every day we strive to serve you authentic BBQ made from the freshest, most delectable ingredients, and serve it to you in a patriotic dining room filled with tributes to those who’ve made Our Country great, given to us by the people who earned them,” the statement adds. “Stop by at lunchtime, and you might catch us during our daily salute to the Stars and Stripes.”