Representatives for a fast-casual chain specializing in chicken finger meals are hoping the third time will be their lucky charm to gain approval to build a site on bustling Hall Road in Sterling Heights.

Raising Cane’s, a Baton Rouge-La.-based fast food restaurant chain, is seeking a conditional rezoning for a 1.6 acre site of the former Chili’s restaurant in front of the Sterling Town Center office complex.

But city officials are concerned about traffic and crash issues if Raising Cane’s is allowed to build by the five-story Sterling Town Center building they say is one of the area’s most successful properties.

The proposal has twice been before the Sterling Heights Planning Commission but postponed as the two sides continue with discussion and recommendations, they say will include modifications to improve traffic flow into the site and vehicles exiting.

“The issue is traffic coming off and going onto M-59,” Benjamin Aloia, the attorney for Sterling Hall, the LLC proposing the project, said Friday. “We’ve made some adjustments to the initial plan that we feel will move us closer to what the commission was looking for. We’re hopeful.”

Developers Frank Jarbou and Kevin Denha will go before the Planning Commission on Wednesday night seeking to rezone the property from O-3 (high-rise office commercial service district) to C-3 (general business), which would allow the freestanding restaurant.

They say they have a signed lease with the developers to build a 3,500-square-foot restaurant once they demolish the existing Chili’s building, which has been vacant for three years.

Raising Cane’s has over 600 locations in the United States, according to its website, and the company plans to expand to over 1,500 restaurants across the country. The state’s only other locations are in East Lansing and Canton, but the company has plans to build one in Macomb County on Gratiot Avenue south of 23 Mile Road in Chesterfield Township.

Raising Cane’s sells only chicken finger meals that come with crinkle-cut fries, Texas toast and a proprietary add-on known as Cane’s sauce.

The planning department is recommending the commission deny the project for nine reasons, including increased traffic from the eatery would mean additional crashes, the site plan contains insufficient parking spaces, and claims Raising Cane’s would be “disruptive and detrimental” to the nearby Sterling Town Center, which has a number of well-known businesses including UHY, Connect Macomb, and three law firms. City officials say it is one of the most “desirable” office spaces in Sterling Heights, with a 95% occupancy rate.

Adding a fast-food operation on the property would jeopardize the complex’s parking spaces since both business share a common entrance/exit lane.

According to the Planning Department, the city’s master land use plan designates the property as being meant for regional commercial zoning for businesses. That designation would permit businesses that are “compatible” with Sterling Town Center, like a sit-down restaurant.

However, the zoning ordinance states the district is “specifically intended to discourage” other businesses, such as a fast-food operation.

The developers say Raising Cane’s will be an aesthetically pleasing eatery that will complement the businesses at Sterling Town Center that will have various controls for the adjustable drive-through speakers.

According to Aloia, there is softening demand for both office buildings or a sit-down restaurant in the “current economic environment.”

“The virtual work-from home trend post-COVID has driven office vacancies up, so there are significant challenges to fill the existing bricks and mortar space,” Aloia wrote in agenda materials.

Planning officials further say the increased traffic from a fast-food eatery will likely result in more crashes.

According to the Sterling Heights Police Department, there have been 332 crashes on eastbound Hall Road between Oleander Drive and Schoenherr Road from 2020 to 2024.

“In the opinion of the Office of Planning, the increased consistent drive-through traffic will increase the number of accidents in this area,” the Planning Department said in agenda materials.

After the Planning Commission issues its recommendation on the proposal, the application then goes before the City Council a new months down the road. Planners will meet at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Sterling Heights City Hall, 40555 Utica Road.