Construction will begin in August on a Chick-fil-A restaurant off Halls Ferry Road, company officials said today.

No contractor has been hired, but a building permit application is expected once one is in place, building and inspections director Victor Gray-Lewis said.

Company officials said, however, the outlet that specializes in chicken filets and sandwiches should be open for business a year from now.

For years, talk has circulated across Vicksburg that the popular fast-food restaurant was coming to the city.

It would be the 23rd Chick-fil-A location in Mississippi. Locations nearest Vicksburg are in Clinton, Flowood and Monroe.

The Atlanta-based company operates 1,272 locations nationwide, including 938 freestanding stores, 29 drive-through-only restaurants and 214 licensed outlets at airports, universities, hospitals and other businesses, according to its website.

Recognized for its ad campaign starring cows that ask people to “Eat Mor Chikin,” the chain sponsors the opening game of the college football season, a postseason game in Atlanta, formerly the Peach Bowl, and numerous charity events.

Dirt work on the long-delayed strip center is expected to start this month, weather permitting, said Jim Eichenberger, a leasing agent for Yazoo City-based Action Properties LLC, which took over the center last May. No tenants have been announced. The firm’s commercial space in Mississippi and Arkansas is leased to sporting goods, electronics outlets, restaurants and banks.