Oct 14, 2026 · @x/myrtlebeachnews
Crews are now building the Grand Strand’s first Raising Cane’s at 960 Jason Blvd., on the lot that sat empty for years after Burro Loco closed. The site sits just off the junction of U.S. 501 and the 17 Bypass, the main road most visitors take into Myrtle Beach.
For years, Horry County fans of the Louisiana chicken finger chain had to drive to Mount Pleasant for a box combo. That is still true today, since the nearest open location remains in the Charleston area [WBTW News13, 2026]. But the project has moved from a line on a city agenda to an active construction site in about nine months.
This piece pulls together what local outlets have reported since December 2025. It also asks what the arrival of a national chain at one of the city’s most visible corners says about how Myrtle Beach decides what its front door looks like, and what locals still don’t know.
The first public sign came in mid-December 2025. An agenda for the city’s Community Appearance Board showed Raising Cane’s asking for a conceptual review of a 4,570-square-foot restaurant, with parking, landscaping and a dumpster enclosure. Greenville engineering firm Freeland & Kauffman was listed on the plans.
The company itself stayed cautious at first. A spokesperson told WPDE that Raising Cane’s had no confirmed plans for Myrtle Beach but was looking at opportunities in the area.
At the Dec. 18 meeting, Adam Caracci, the chain’s senior director of property development, walked the board through the drawings. Members gave feedback but held off on a final vote, which was expected the following month. No completion date or grand opening was offered [Post and Courier, 2025].
By Sept. 17, 2026, the project had clearly cleared that hurdle. WBTW reported construction underway, and that day’s board agenda included a final review of a revised exterior lighting plan, a sign the restaurant’s design had already been approved. As of that report, no opening date had been announced.
| Date | Milestone | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 17, 2026 | Construction underway; lighting plan revision on board agenda | WBTW News13 |
| Jan. 2026 (expected) | Final appearance board vote anticipated | Post and Courier |
| Dec. 18, 2025 | Conceptual review before Community Appearance Board | Post and Courier, MyHorryNews |
| Dec. 12–16, 2025 | Agenda posted; company says it is only “exploring” the area | WBTW, WMBF, WPDE, WFXB |
That timeline matters less for the chicken than for what happened to the land beneath it.
Longtime locals remember Burro Loco as a loud, sand-lot Mexican cantina known for big Cinco de Mayo parties. The restaurant closed in 2018. After that, the building collected graffiti and trash behind no-trespassing signs while thousands of cars passed it every day .
Raising Cane’s plans call for tearing that building down and starting fresh. One delivery driver eating lunch at the Wendy’s next door told the Post and Courier he passes the lot constantly and was glad someone was finally fixing it.
Here is the part worth noticing. For seven years, a blighted property sat at one of the city’s most important gateways, and the fix came not from a city initiative but from a private chain that wanted the traffic counts. That is not unusual. Commercial corners near major interchanges tend to wait for a national tenant with the budget to demolish and rebuild. But it raises a fair local question: what tools did the city have to push for cleanup during those seven years, and did it use them?
Answering that would take code-enforcement records, not press releases. What the record does show is how the city used the one tool it clearly had once a buyer appeared: design review.
The Community Appearance Board reviews the look of new commercial buildings in the city, from drawings to materials [WMBF News, 2025]. Its handling of this project shows both what that review can do and where it stops.
The renderings Raising Cane’s brought were borrowed from a California store, complete with West Coast palm trees. Board members objected, and the company promised South Carolina palmettos instead. Members also suggested making the building taller. Overall, the board was supportive of the concept [MyHorryNews, 2025].
The most interesting detail is the mural. Every Raising Cane’s carries one, a nod to the bakery mural that founder Todd Graves took as a good omen when he started the business. For Myrtle Beach, the company said it wants a local artist to paint a beach-themed design [MyHorryNews, 2025]. Caracci told the board the company was open to ideas about what part of the community to highlight. One piece of feedback he got: “the less kitschy the better” [Post and Courier, 2025].
That comment captures a real tension. Myrtle Beach is trying to move beyond its airbrushed-T-shirt image, and the board clearly wants new buildings at its gateways to look intentional. Yet design review mostly governs surfaces: trees, height, lighting, paint. It does not decide whether a corner becomes another drive-thru. The board can make a chain look more local. It cannot make it local.
For readers, the takeaway is practical. If you care what goes on that mural, the time to speak up is now, before the paint goes on. Raising Cane’s has publicly invited input.
The bigger questions, though, are about what happens once the doors open.
The restaurant will offer both a drive-thru and dine-in seating, with roughly 35 to 40 parking spaces planned. It will be visible to drivers coming over the 17 Bypass overpass above U.S. 501 [MyHorryNews, 2025]. That visibility is the whole point for the company. For residents who already fight that interchange every summer, it is also the concern.
Raising Cane’s is not a small operator. WFXB described it as the country’s third-largest chicken chain, with more than 900 restaurants [WFXB, 2025]. New stores in other markets have drawn fans who line up for hours, sometimes overnight, before opening day [Tallahassee Democrat via AOL, 2026]. A first-in-market opening at a busy interchange, with a single drive-thru stacking toward Jason Boulevard, could test how the site handles cars in its first weeks.
None of the coverage to date has answered several things locals will want to know:
These are answerable questions. City planning files and the company’s hiring page are where the answers will surface first.
Raising Cane’s will almost certainly be busy. The chain went from “just exploring” to pouring a foundation in under a year, and it is taking over a lot that most locals were happy to see change [WPDE, 2025; WBTW News13, 2026].
The story worth watching is not the menu. It is how Myrtle Beach manages its front door. The city waited seven years for a private buyer to clear a blighted gateway corner. It then used design review to swap out California palms and steer a mural away from kitsch. Those are real wins, but they are cosmetic ones.
The tests that matter to people who live here come next: how the site handles opening-week traffic, whether the jobs are good ones, and whether the mural reflects the community or just decorates it. We’ll keep asking.
Construction underway for Myrtle Beach’s first Raising Cane’s location — WBTW News13, Sept. 17, 2026
Raising Cane’s is getting closer to opening a Myrtle Beach location — Post and Courier, Dec. 19, 2025
Raising Cane’s plans to open a Myrtle Beach location. Here’s where. — Post and Courier, Dec. 13, 2025
Raising Cane’s eyes Myrtle Beach location — MyHorryNews, Dec. 2025
Plans in the works to bring Raising Cane’s to Myrtle Beach — WMBF News, Dec. 12, 2025
What’s next for Burro Loco? — WMBF News, Feb. 9, 2024
Raising Cane’s explores possible Myrtle Beach location — WPDE, Dec. 2025
Raising Cane’s eyeing possible Myrtle Beach location — WFXB, Dec. 17, 2025
New Raising Cane’s restaurants are coming — Tallahassee Democrat via AOL
