LOVELAND – Plans remain in the works for a Loveland location of In-N-Out, the legendary California-based drive-through hamburger chain that generated wait times of up to 14 hours when it opened its first location in Denver, but a date for a formal decision still has not been set.

The company has submitted plans to the city of Loveland for a 3,800-square-foot building on 1.38 acres along U.S. Highway 34 at 1451 Fall River Drive. Its application was first submitted in January, and Loveland city planner Noreen Smyth told BizWest this week that it remains under planning review with no date scheduled for approval or denial by the city’s planning department.

In an email to BizWest on Tuesday, Mike Abbate, In-N-Out’s vice president for real estate and development, confirmed that the company does “hope to open a new restaurant in Loveland sometime in the future, however, it is still very early in the development process, so it would be premature to comment on a timeline or anything like a potential opening date.”

Once construction on a new In-N-Out location begins, Abbate said, “it usually takes us eight to nine months to build a restaurant and open for business.

“We are committed to slow and controlled growth in all of our existing markets,” Abbate wrote. “As such, we will continue our pursuit for appropriate locations to best serve our customers in Colorado.”

The Loveland planning document, which Smyth advised has been altered since first being submitted, is online.

The chain, founded in 1948 in Southern California, already has Colorado locations in Thornton, Aurora, Lakewood, Lone Tree, Castle Rock and Colorado Springs.