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Olive Garden buys space here - but where? By GREG STILES Mail Tribune The Olive Garden is coming, the Olive Garden is coming. Now that the longtime rumor has been confirmed, where and when are the remaining questions. A spokesman for Darden Restaurants, Olive Garden's parent company, Thursday confirmed that the chain has bought land in the Medford market and could open next winter. "Apparently we have purchased the property," Darden spokesman Steve Coe said Thursday. "I can confirm that we have property. But it will probably be at least a year; I don't know that we have plans in place." One site mentioned repeatedly is 3125 Crater Lake Highway, where Chevys Fresh Mex went up in 1998. Chevys owner Steve DeClerck has been in negotiations with Olive Garden executives and rumors have persisted among employees and clientele that the property was being sold to Olive Garden, that Chevys would close later this month and its staff would be laid off. However, Chevys general manager Dana Sims said DeClerck told her the deal fell through. "All I know is what Steve told me and that it's not sold," Sims said. "We'll be open a month from now and for me personally, I hope for a long time. "The rumors have been going around and that's a bad thing; it scares employees and they think they need to find another job. So far no one has left. I can only tell them what the owner has told me; I don't even know where the date came from at the end of the month." Repeated calls and e-mails over several days seeking comment from DeClerck Enterprises were not returned. Coe said all of the new Olive Gardens are a Tuscan farmhouse design introduced in February 2000 at Orlando, Fla. There aren't many variations on the theme, and the nearest restaurant in the new design is in Vancouver, British Columbia. Most of the restaurants are about 8,000 square feet and seat about 280 guests. Chevys seats 290. "For Olive Garden to come in, it would cost a fortune to redo," Sims said. "It's built like a Chevys." As of Aug. 26, Darden Restaurants operated 1,173 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones BBQ Sports Bar restaurants and employed 122,000. There were 475 Olive Gardens in 44 states and another five in Canada. In many places, Olive Gardens and Red Lobsters share parking lots. In Medford, Red Lobster is penned in by Bear Creek, Highway 62 and Target. "In many cases, it's beneficial to negotiate for two lots at once," Coe said. Olive Garden expanded rapidly until about 31/2 years ago, when its leadership slowed growth to beef up its operations. "Now we are balancing maintenance with restaurant growth," said Coe. "We have opened 20-something restaurants in that time and within that framework it takes time." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.