The kitchen of Big Boyz Pizza, seen Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, will be fully finished ahead of the restaurant's springtime opening.(Photo: Mickey Shuey/Palladium-Item)Buy Photo

Two full months into 2017,a slew of restaurants and other businesses that only recently announced their plans to open locations in Richmond have made progress on their respective buildings.

McAlister's Deli, Big Boyz Pizza and Burger Time all said they planto open for business by the end of the year, along with a new Milk House location on the city's south end.

The three restaurants are each new to the area, but two of the three have locations elsewhere in eastern Indiana. The exception is Burger Time, which has most of its other restaurants in the upper Plains.

Here's a look at what the Palladium-Item has been told about each of the four projects, and when area residents can expect them to open:

Big Boyz,1013 E. Main St.

When it was announced in January that a Connersville-based pizza place would open a Richmond location, many on social media went berserk with excitement, particularly given the decision by Big Boyz to locate in a downtown building. The restaurant will serve pizza, pasta and salad, among other items.

The owners of the restaurant, which include the owners of the pizza place's other two locations and local partners, said they were hopeful the store will open in the spring. That's still the plan, but local partner Angie Siggers said they've hit a snag with permits.

"We''re still waiting on those, and that's just about all that's left for us," she said. "We had hoped to be open this week, but obviously, we still need to get our permitting taken care of."

Siggers said work on the building is, for the most part, completedas is much of the hiring process.

"We have made 24 hires for this restaurant, but we're still looking for a few more delivery drivers and servers," she said. "We're hoping to find individuals to fill those positions in the next couple of weeks."

An exact opening date hasn'tbeen set yet, but Siggers said the ownership team is committed to opening sometime in early to mid spring.

Burger Time is opening its first Indiana restaurant at the former Rally's site on Chester Boulevard near Interstate 70.(Photo: Mickey Shuey/Palladium-Item)

Burger Time,2500 Chester Blvd.

This burger-and-fries fast food restaurant confirmed Feb. 3 it will open its first Indiana location along Chester Boulevard, where Rally's once waslocated. The eatery will utilize the existing Rally's building, which features two drive-thru and two walk-up windows.

Director of Operations Mark Petri said although no opening date has been determined, much of the work on the building is nearing completion. He said the next steps include bringing in equipment and obtaining the remaining permits to operate the facility.

"The building just needs to be filled up (with machinery)," he said. "Everything is progressing as planned, so we are certainly closer than what we were a few weeks ago."

Burger Time's menu includes cheeseburgers, pulled pork, wraps, chicken sandwiches, cheese curds, shakes and pie with prices rangingfrom $5 to $11, depending on the items chosen. The company opened its first store in 1987 and recently began exploring options for growth outside its existing nine locations in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. The company also isworking on a St. Louis location.

(Photo: Corey Ohlenkamp/The Star Press)

McAlister's Deli,Richmond Mall

Ground has been broken on construction of a new location for a national delicatessen chain that's opening an area restaurant.

Richmond Mall owner Hull Property Group has started turning up blacktop to lay the foundation for McAlister's Deli, which will be located directly east of Chili's in front of the shopping center. It was announced in early January that the deli would open a Richmond location.

The building in which McAlister's will be located will be owned by the property group but managed by Southern Rock, a regional McAlister's franchisee that is seeking to make the location its 66th in a five-state area and it's 23rd in Indiana.

"We are in the early stages of things right now, but it all looks good so far," said David Blackburn, chief executive officer of Southern Rock. "We are really looking forward to opening this location. We know there's a demand for it."

He said the restaurant will be larger than most standard-size McAlister's 4,500 square feet versus a normally sized one of 3,500 and it is expected to feature a room that will be able to accommodate large groups. The restaurant will be able to seat nearly 150 people.

Blackburn said he plans to stay in touch with Hull Property Group as construction progresses and once the building's shell is complete, Southern Rock will build out the remainder of the interior and exterior.

He said he'shopeful the restaurant will remain on schedule for a September opening.

An empty lot at South Eighth and E Streets, seen Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2016, could soon be the future home of the south Richmond Milkhouse.(Photo: Mickey Shuey/Palladium-Item)

Milk House,South E Street

For the past several years, Richmond's options for basicdrive-up grocery needs and popular fountain drinks has been limited to the near east and west ends of town. Soon, the south side of the city will have its own Milk House once more.

The owner of the local drive-thrus said Jan. 4 he plans to build a new location on the city's south side, on the corner of South E and Eighth streets. He said at the time the south side store could reach up to 2,200 square feet, which is more than double the size of the existing two stores.

The Milk House drive-thrus over the years have become locally famous for their service style, as well as their assorted varieties of fountain drinks and other products.

Owner Jeffrey Cregar said work started on the new store, which could employ up to 10 people, in recent weeks. Dirt has been moved around and foundation work could begin in the coming weeks, he said.

"We've made some good progress so far, mostly because of the (good) weather," he said. "I'm hoping it stays that way."

Cregar said he couldn't give an exact opening date for the locationbut noted he hopes to have it open by late summer.

"I can't guarantee anything, but if things go my way, we'll be open before fall comes around," he said. "That's what we're shooting for."

To reachPalladium-Item businessreporter Mickey Shuey, call (765)973-4472. You can follow him onTwitter:@MickeyShueyPI and atfacebook.com/mickeyshuey.

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Roundup: New dining options making progress - Palladium-Item