HOULTON – There was more good economic news for Houlton this week: The Canadian doughnut chain Tim Hortons plans to open a restaurant in town this summer.

“We’re very excited about coming to Houlton,” Greg Skinner, corporate communications officer for the chain, said Thursday during a telephone interview. “It’s a good market, close to the [U.S.-Canadian] border.”

The company has 160 restaurants in the United States, including seven in Maine, two of which are located in Presque Isle. In addition to Houlton, Skinner said the chain also will open a restaurant this summer in Windham, near Portland.

The Houlton restaurant will be located on U.S. Route 1 and Katahdin Lane on a lot between the Shiretown Motel and a Unicel office. It will cover about 2,500 square feet, which will include a kitchen, customer seating for about 50 people, and a drive-through window.

Between 25 and 30 full- and part-time employees will work at the restaurant.

The restaurant will offer the full regular line of products, including bagels, sandwiches, muffins and soup, as well as doughnuts and coffee, Skinner said. Construction is expected to get under way in April with opening set for July.

“It’s looking good,” Skinner said. “Everything is moving ahead well.”

The company, which has headquarters in Oakville, Ontario, was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario, by Canadian hockey legend Tim Horton, who opened a single coffee and donut shop there. It since has grown to more than 2,000 restaurants with more than 55,000 employees.

Horton was killed in 1974 in a car accident.

The company merged in 1995 with Wendy’s hamburger chain.

The Tim Horton Charitable Foundation operates five camps in Canada and the United States for economically disadvantaged children. The U.S. camp is located in Campbellsville, Ky.

Children who live in the communities where Tim Hortons has restaurants are chosen each year to attend the camps, according to Skinner.

The arrival of Tim Hortons to Houlton will be the second doughnut chain to set up in town in less than a year.

Last May, Dunkin’ Donuts opened a sales counter and drive-up window in the Dead River Co. I-95 Food Trend store on Route 1.