In-N-Out plans to open second Washington location, but has no plans to go north

Renowned West Coast restaurant chain In-N-Out Burger confirmed Wednesday its plan to open a second location in the state of Washington and its second in Clark County.

In a statement emailed to MyNorthwest, an In-N-Out spokesperson stated the company recently filed a development application for a site at 13511 SE 3rd Way in Vancouver, Washington. But the statement, credited to Vice President, Store Development Mike Abbate, noted “it is still early in the pre-development process, so we hope for a positive outcome, as we work with the city to pursue our permits and approvals.”

SE 3rd Way is off of NE 136th Avenue and near SE Mill Plain Boulevard. The city of Vancouver’s data hub allows users to search for project name or by address to see In-N-Out has filed and in the system.

Tim Becker, a strategic communications manager with the city of Vancouver, confirmed to MyNorthwest by email Wednesday that In-N-Out submitted a commercial development pre-application with his city April 15. He added the restaurant would be 3,800 square feet and include drive-through service and outdoor seating.

More on In-N-Out: The burger chain is expanding east of Texas; first stop is Tennessee

Becker said the pre-application conference is May 9 and “no building permits have been submitted as of yet.” Becker went on to say in his email that the pre-application process is the first step in the land use planning process the site needs to go through before building permits can be applied for.

From there, Abbate’s statement sent to MyNorthwest stated that once construction begins, it usually takes us eight to nine months to build the restaurant and open for business. Given all that still needs to be done, Abbate said “it would be premature to comment on a timeline for an opening date or when we will even get our development application approval.”

Washington’s first In-N-Out will open in Ridgefield

In-N-Out confirmed to MyNorthwest at the end of February it planned to open its first Washington location in the city of Ridgefield, which is north of Vancouver, also in Clark County.

Previous coverage: First In-N-Out Burger to come to the state of Washington

Ridgefield City Manager Steve Stuart provided a statement to MyNorthwest at that time stating the city had received a building permit application from In-N-Out for a location in the Ridgefield Union Ridge Town Center development. He went on to explain that the city has worked with In-N-Out to provide a structure that will avoid street issues for residents that also compliments the city.

“Our permitting and engineering team has worked closely with In-N-Out to ensure they are not only creating enough queuing spaces to avoid backups onto roads, but also that the design of the building will be unique, high-quality and complimentary to Ridgefield,” Stuart said in his previous statement.

The Ridgefield Union Ridge Town Center is on Pioneer Street, west of Interstate 5 (I-5).

In-N-Out made its upcoming arrival in Washington official April 9 when it announced on its Instagram and Facebook pages it was “working on a plan to come to Southern Washington by 2025!” The announcement came with a graphic of a map of the state of Washington, an In-N-Out logo and a star placed around Ridgefield.

 

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Vancouver may be getting Washington’s newest In-N-Out, but once Ridgefield’s location is built and opens, it will still have the honor of being the closest location to the cities of Seattle and Tacoma. According to Google Maps, Ridgefield is 154 miles away from Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood (about 2 hours and 24 minutes away by car without traffic) and 122 miles from Tacoma (1 hour, 54 minutes in the car).

The location in Vancouver where the restaurant will reside is 171 miles away from Seattle’s Eastlake neighborhood (about 2 hours and 45 minutes away by car without traffic) and 138 miles from Tacoma (2 hours, 12 minutes in the car).

The closest In-N-Out to Seattle and Tacoma now is located in Keizer, Oregon, near Salem. Google Maps lists Keizer as 217 miles away from Seattle (3 hours, 30 minutes in the car).

Does In-N-Out plan to open locations farther north?

An In-N-Out spokesperson confirmed to MyNorthwest twice this month that is does not have any plans to open any restaurants locations farther north in Washington than the two already planned in Clark County.

“We remain hopeful about opening at our proposed location in Ridgefield, Washington,” Abbate said in a statement on April 10. “However, we don’t have any plans for expansion further north in the near future.”

The spokesperson confirmed in a separate email Wednesday that Abbate’s statement from earlier this month “remains accurate.”

Steve Coogan is the lead editor of MyNorthwest. You can read more of his stories here. Follow Steve on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here.