A new Whataburger is on the way to East El Paso, with plans calling for a ground-up restaurant on a currently vacant lot at 12347 Pellicano Drive. The $1.9 million project includes a drive-thru window and would place the fast-food chain across the street from a Speedway gas station and within reach of McDonald's, Mister Car Wash, Flix Brewhouse, Bee's Pastry Cafe and Pop's Pizza.
According to the El Paso Times, the project's ownership is listed under EPT Monteverde LLC and Cavalier Pellicano LLC, both based in El Paso. Jeff Smith of Rouch Architects, a Dallas-based firm, is listed as the applicant for the new Whataburger project. The city's permit and licensing page does not list a contractor for the job, and details on a construction timeline have not been made public.
A Corridor Already Booming With Commercial Activity
The new restaurant sits within the Monte Verde development area, a stretch of East El Paso near Joe Battle Boulevard and Loop 375 that has become a magnet for national chains. In July 2025, property owner EPT Monteverde LLC submitted a replat application to the El Paso City Plan Commission for the Monte Verde Unit Two subdivision, formally setting the municipal planning framework for the site, according to city records cited in local research.
The area's appeal to retailers is easy to trace in the numbers. Pellicano Drive carries roughly 35,920 vehicles per day near the site, while adjacent Loop 375 sees more than 104,160 vehicles daily, per traffic data compiled by Crexi. Within a three-mile radius of the Joe Battle and Pellicano intersection, the population exceeds 78,000 residents with an average household income topping $82,000, figures that help explain why fast-food and retail brands keep landing in far East El Paso.
Crexi's listing data also points to a 9,600-square-foot retail shopping center planned nearby at 1416–1420 Joe Battle Boulevard, alongside the recently opened Flix Brewhouse in the adjacent Monteverde development. Co-tenants in the immediate area include Starbucks, McDonald's and Taco Bell, rounding out a commercial cluster that has grown rapidly alongside new housing construction in the area.
Road Work Still Shadows the Corridor
New customers may need patience getting there for a while yet. The $22.1 million Pellicano Drive Widening Project, overseen in partnership with the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority, stalled after its original contractor went bankrupt, prompting El Paso County commissioners to authorize $6 million in vehicle registration fee funds last July to restart the work. Hoodline previously detailed neighbors' frustration over detours tied to the John Hayes Extension and the broader widening project.
Replacement contractor Hawk Construction is scheduled to finish Phase 1 of the road expansion, running from Loop 375 to Aircoupe, by late 2026, with full corridor upgrades stretching to Darrington Road expected to begin construction in 2027. The finished project will convert Pellicano Drive into a six-lane divided thoroughfare with medians, sidewalks and bike lanes, though for now, drivers headed toward the new Whataburger will likely still encounter the same bottlenecks that have plagued the corridor for months.
A Texas Icon Keeps Expanding
Whataburger was founded by Harmon Dobson in 1950 in Corpus Christi, Texas, and opened its first location outside the state in Pensacola, Florida, in 1959. The chain now has nearly 1,200 locations across the country, spread across 17 states, with Texas alone accounting for 774 of those restaurants, according to data from Xwiz Analytics. El Paso itself ranks among the top cities nationwide for Whataburger density, hosting between 23 and 28 active locations as of 2026, per figures from Actowiz Solutions.
That growth trajectory traces back to 2019, when private equity firm BDT Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Whataburger from the founding Dobson family, which retained a minority stake in the sale. Since then, the chain has expanded from about 830 locations to more than 1,180 restaurants nationwide. Longtime chief executive Ed Nelson retired at the end of 2024, handing the reins to former Chief Operating Officer Debbie Stroud, who has led the San Antonio-based company since 2025.
No opening date has been announced for the East El Paso location, and it remains unclear how construction will proceed while road work continues along Pellicano Drive. For now, the vacant lot at 12347 Pellicano Drive stands as the latest marker of just how fast this corner of East El Paso is filling in.
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