HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Golden Corral is moseying back into the Huntsville market after a long absence.

The Raleigh, N.C.-based restaurant chain plans to break ground early next year on a large company-operated restaurant on University Drive near Landers McLarty Chevrolet. Golden Corral had a franchise location across from Madison Square Mall that closed about 10 years ago.

"We've wanted to come back to the Huntsville area for quite some time but had not been able to find a location that worked for us," Vice President of Development Richard T. Chase told AL.com Tuesday.

"So, we redoubled our efforts."

Last month, the Huntsville Board of Zoning Adjustment granted Golden Corral a parking variance for what will be one of the city's biggest restaurants. The seating capacity is listed at 444 people.

Under city parking codes, Golden Corral normally would have had to provide 222 parking spaces – exactly half as much as the seating capacity. The variance reduced that to 177 spaces, said Zoning Enforcement Coordinator Jim McGuffey.

This afternoon, the Huntsville Planning Commission will consider a request to subdivide land located between Landers McLarty Chevrolet and Waffle House into two new commercial tracts. McGuffey said the larger 2.3-acre parcel is for Golden Corral; the other is for a future Verizon Wireless store.

The businesses will share a parking lot, he said.

Chase said Golden Corral hopes to break ground on its new University Drive restaurant in early 2014. Construction is expected to take five to six months, he said.

The self-proclaimed "America's No. 1 buffet and grill," Golden Corral has nearly 500 restaurants in 40 states. Huntsville is among 24 new Golden Corrals planned for 2014, said Chase.

Golden Corral currently has nine Alabama restaurants in Birmingham, Hoover, Pelham, Oxford, Montgomery, Opelika, Dothan and Mobile. Chase said the company is scouting for possible locations in the Muscle Shoals area.