In-N-Out Burger adding location in growing Grantville

In-N-Out Burger plans to add a new location in Grantville, a quickly growing neighborhood sandwiched between Mission Valley and San Diego State University.

The In-N-Out restaurant and a Starbucks are slated to replace a Black Angus that has operated since 1979 in the Riverdale Shopping Center near Friars and Mission Gorge roads.

A city hearing officer approved the changes last week. The Navajo Community Planning Board, which covers Grantville and several other eastern neighborhoods, approved the changes contingent on the drive-thru lanes planned at both Starbucks and In-N-Out having limits on the numbers of cars allowed.

Both chains, but particularly In-N-Out, often prompt complaints that overflow from their drive-thru lanes clogs nearby streets and parking lots.

The new businesses are just the latest changes in Grantville, where new zoning approved four years ago by the city has prompted a building boom.

City leaders say thousands of housing units under construction in Grantville, many of them geared for low-income and middle-income residents, could make the community a model for solving San Diego’s housing crisis.

Politics

Grantville building boom could be model for solving San Diego’s housing crisis

San Diego officials say they may have a local model for their strategy to solve the city’s housing crisis by placing dense high-rise apartments and condominium complexes along trolley lines.

The community, which has a trolley stop and is near the interchange of Interstates 8 and 15, became more appealing to developers when voters last year approved the SDSU West proposal for the city’s stadium site in Mission Valley.

While Starbucks and In-N-Out are both highly popular chains, many residents are frustrated to lose Black Angus.

“I think I can speak for quite a large number of our folks who are really distressed to lose the one really nice, upscale restaurant in the area,” said Shain Haug, president of the Allied Gardens/Grantville Community Council.

Haug also said the project could make the area more dangerous because vehicles exit and enter the shopping center, which also includes a Filippi’s Pizza Grotto, on a part of Friars Road where traffic moves swiftly.

The location will be In-N-Out’s 20th in the county and seventh in the city.