Chipotle plans second Duluth location, three homes would be demolished

A fast-casual chain is pressing for a bigger slice of one of Duluth’s busiest corridors, and the cost is three homes on the 1900 block of London Road. Chipotle Mexican Grill wants to build a second Duluth location there as a drive-thru Chipotlane, turning a residential stretch into a nearly 2,400-square-foot restaurant site with parking and a pickup lane.

The proposal is moving through city review, not construction. The City of Duluth Planning Commission unanimously approved a two-year permit that would let Chipotle occupy 35 parking spaces on the site, but the project still needs a separate construction permit before work can begin. That keeps the deal tied to the city’s formal land-use process, where questions about access, traffic flow and neighborhood fit tend to carry as much weight as the restaurant itself.

The land-use stakes are obvious on London Road, where the city is already reworking the street. Duluth’s 2025 resurfacing project covered the stretch from 21st Avenue East to 26th Avenue East and included a four-lane to three-lane reconfiguration, multi-use lanes and ADA pedestrian upgrades where possible. Adding a drive-thru on the same corridor raises a direct question for residents, property owners and nearby businesses: how much commercial convenience can London Road absorb before it starts changing the character of the block?

Chipotle’s interest also reflects a much larger national shift in how the chain grows. Chipotle defines a Chipotlane as its digital-order drive-thru pickup lane, and the company marked its 1,000th Chipotlane in November 2024. It said then that it expected to open 315 to 345 new restaurants in 2025, with at least 80% including a Chipotlane. In the first quarter of 2026, 42 of the 49 company-owned restaurants Chipotle opened included one, showing how central the format has become to the chain’s expansion plan.

For Duluth, the benefits and tradeoffs are clear. A second Chipotle could bring jobs, more sales activity and another national dining option on the east side. But it would also mean demolishing three homes and converting more of London Road into commercial frontage, adding another visible sign of where retail demand is concentrating and what kind of development the city is willing to allow on a high-traffic corridor.