In-N-Out site near Allegiant Stadium sells again

A few months after buying a small plot near Allegiant Stadium for a big price, an Arizona developer has sold it for even more.

Diversified Partners founder Walt Brown Jr. sold a 1.8-acre parcel, which is slated to get a newly built In-N-Out Burger, to a family in San Francisco for $12.5 million, property records show.

The deal closed March 22 and followed Brown’s purchase of the vacant site, just south of the stadium, for $10.8 million in late December.

The quick flip comes as Las Vegas’ badly bruised economy heals from the coronavirus pandemic and, football fans hope, before the Raiders let ticket holders attend home games in their newly built $2 billion stadium next season.

The bought-and-sold property was used for stadium parking when the 65,000-seat venue was under construction, and, in theory, is a highly visible spot with potential for masses of hungry people walking by.

The buyers, who acquired the lot through an entity called A&A Lee Family Limited Partnership, could not be reached for comment.

Efforts to speak with Brown were unsuccessful.

Colliers International broker Eric Carlton, whose firm recently announced the deal, represented Brown in the sale and couldn’t confirm when In-N-Out would break ground on the eatery, at the southeast corner of Russell Road and Polaris Avenue, about a mile west of the Strip.

But he noted the burger chain has a ground lease and must start paying rent on the land by December, whether its restaurant is open or not.

According to a brochure for the site, the land comes with a 20-year lease with six five-year extension options. The rent, which starts at $400,000 per year, climbs 10 percent every five years, the materials show.

Plans have called for the restaurant project to span 2,717 square feet and feature two drive-thru lanes, outdoor dining, and a walk-up window for customers, according to county documents.

It also would be roughly a mile-and-a-half south of another In-N-Out. That location sits in a high-traffic area off Tropicana Avenue and Interstate 15 and, according to Carlton, has been among the top sales generators in the chain.

Carl Arena, In-N-Out’s vice president of real estate and development, said in a statement that the company is “very excited about the prospect of opening a new location” south of the stadium.

He added that the project is in the development approval process and that “there is still quite a bit of work to be done before we can even set a time to begin construction.”

But, he said, once the burger chain breaks ground on a new location, it usually takes about six months to build the eatery and open for business.

Its big new neighbor near the Strip opened last year but, because of the pandemic, did not have any fans inside watching Raiders games.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said last month that football is “simply not the same without the fans. We expect to have full stadiums in the 2021 season.”

At the time, Raiders owner Mark Davis said it was “still a little too early to make that call,” and he hadn’t decided whether he’d be open to a partially full Allegiant Stadium this fall, the Review-Journal reported.

“I don’t think that far ahead,” Davis said. “Like I said, we still have a few months to go, and our goal is to fill that stadium.”

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.