Jack in the Box to rebuild downtown Kent location

Fast-food fans don’t need to worry because Jack’s coming back to Central Avenue in downtown Kent.

Demolition crews leveled the Jack in the Box restaurant in late May at the busy corner of Central Avenue North and West Smith Street.

But the oldest Jack in the Box in Washington state will be rebuilt and pop back open for business in late August or early September, said Brian Luscomb, spokesman for Jack in the Box, in a phone interview Tuesday from company offices in San Diego.

“We are in the process of re-imaging all of the Jack in the Box in the system,” Luscomb said. “We’ve been around for 60 years and some are pretty old.”

The restaurant on Central was built in October 1969, the first Jack in the Box in the state as it opened just prior to a Burien location. The chain started in 1951 in San Diego.

“It is the oldest one in Washington and to be honest it looked like it,” Luscomb said of the 41-year-old restaurant.

The company has more than 2,200 locations in 19 states, including 146 in Washington.

The rebuilt restaurant will have 2,300 square feet, somewhat larger than the previous one in order to accommodate a larger kitchen designed to speed up the cooking and packaging of food.

“We want to maximize processing orders as quickly as possible,” Luscomb said. “Speed is a very important part of our business.”

Just like the old restaurant, the rebuilt one will not have indoor seating. It will feature a drive-thru window and a new walk-up window.

The restaurant employs about two dozen people. The employees were offered jobs at other Jack in the Box locations and will be able to return to the Central Avenue site in the fall if they want, Luscomb said.

Jack in the Box has three other Kent locations at 20746 108th Ave. S.E.; 23911 104th Ave. S.E.; and 8829 S. 180th St.