Church's Texas Chicken paid $975,000 for a vacant 1.14-acre parcel on First Street East in Bradenton, where the fried chicken chain plans to build its first Manatee County restaurant along the commercial corridor Lakewood Ranch commuters use daily to reach I-75.

The transaction closed July 28, according to Pulse of Manatee, which first reported the sale. American Property Group of Sarasota brokered the deal.

The site at 2815 First St. E. sits between a recently built Circle K and an O'Reilly Auto Parts, directly across from Firkins Automotive Group. It offers roughly 180 feet of frontage on the corridor and is visible to an estimated 40,000 vehicles daily, according to the brokerage.

"This was a rare opportunity to acquire one of the last remaining undeveloped commercial sites along First Street," Adam Doak, the American Property Group agent who handled the sale, said in an Aug. 5 news release reported by the Bradenton Herald.

Bradenton Car Wash SPE LLC previously owned the parcel, purchasing it in 2022 for $835,000, according to Manatee County property records. The $140,000 gain over four years amounts to roughly 17% appreciation on the site.

Church's Texas Chicken operates 26 locations across Florida, according to the brokerage's press release, with the nearest stores in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater. The chain, founded in San Antonio in 1952 and now headquartered in Atlanta, has been owned by High Bluff Capital Partners and FS Investments since 2021.

The purchase marks the second national quick-service chain to announce a first Manatee County location in the same week. Whataburger filed development plans that week for sites in Parrish and West Bradenton.

No construction start date or opening timeline has been announced.