In-N-Out Burger has filed plans with the City and County of Denver for a new restaurant at 1470 S. Colorado Blvd., a corner site that would require demolishing not one but two former fast-food buildings — a shuttered Black-eyed Pea and an adjacent former Arby's — to make way for the California-based chain's latest Colorado outpost.
The filing, submitted on August 28, calls for a nearly 3,900-square-foot restaurant with a drive-thru, indoor seating for up to 74 people, and outdoor seating for 58 more, according to the Denver Gazette. The proposed site sits at the northeast corner of South Colorado Boulevard and East Florida Avenue, on a 1.54-acre parcel, according to preliminary concept plans reported by Developing Denver.
The Black-eyed Pea location on the site closed in 2023, per the Denver Gazette's reporting, and the plans would clear that building along with the neighboring former Arby's to consolidate the corner into one property. Developing Denver's site plan details a drive-thru lane built to stack at least 25 vehicles, plus 54 parking spaces and a new cross-access drive aisle connecting to the adjacent commercial property — a setup aimed at keeping the chain's famously long drive-thru lines from spilling onto South Colorado Boulevard itself.
A Corridor Already Under Scrutiny
The stakes around traffic are real on this stretch of road. The Colorado Department of Transportation is currently running an alternatives analysis for the South Colorado Boulevard corridor, studying potential Bus Rapid Transit service between Interstate 70 and the Southmoor light rail station, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. Any new high-volume drive-thru near I-25 and Colorado Boulevard would be entering that conversation just as transit planners weigh how to move buses and cars through the same congested arterial.
This isn't the chain's only active Denver expansion effort. In July, In-N-Out submitted permit documents for another drive-thru near East 56th Avenue and Telluride Street in the Gateway-Green Valley Ranch neighborhood, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of that filing. Together, the two proposals show the chain pushing further into Denver proper rather than sticking to suburban debuts.
Building on a Growing Colorado Footprint
In-N-Out currently operates 15 locations across Colorado, per the Denver Gazette's reporting, having debuted in the state in 2020 with its first two Colorado stores at 14160 E. Alameda Ave. in Aurora and 1840 Democracy Point in Colorado Springs. The chain's first restaurant inside Denver city limits didn't open until April 28, 2023, at 4597 N. Central Park Blvd. — its eighth Colorado location overall, following those earlier suburban openings, according to Westword.
The rollout accelerated from there. In September 2024, In-N-Out opened two Denver-area locations on the same day, in Arvada at 7494 W. 52nd Ave. and in Parker at 9558 Twenty Mile Rd., Westword reported at the time. Then, in June, the chain opened its 15th Colorado store in Timnath at 4911 Cima Vista Drive, featuring 84 indoor seats and a 28-seat covered patio, as Hoodline detailed in its report on that store's opening.
Fresh Beef, No Franchises
All of that Colorado growth is fed by a single supply hub: a 97,900-square-foot regional distribution facility and patty production plant in northern Colorado Springs that opened in late 2020, according to 9News. The plant lets the chain ship fresh, never-frozen beef patties to its stores daily rather than relying on frozen distribution networks.
In-N-Out is based in Irvine, California, and is known for its simple menu of burgers, French fries, and milkshakes, per the Denver Gazette. Nationally, the company operated 442 locations across 10 states as of August, with every store company-owned and unfranchised under owner Lynsi Snyder, according to ScrapeHero. Each new Denver-market opening has historically created around 80 associate positions, with starting hourly pay set between $19.50 and $20.00 from 2023 through 2026, per a report from WhatNow.
For now, the Colorado Boulevard proposal remains in the filing stage, with the demolition of the two former restaurant buildings still ahead of any city approvals. Whether the site plan's traffic mitigations satisfy Denver reviewers — and how the project interacts with CDOT's ongoing transit study for the corridor — will likely determine how quickly, if at all, this stretch of South Colorado Boulevard gets its own In-N-Out sign.
