Olive Garden plans 2nd Springfield restaurant

Olive Garden has plans in the works for a second Springfield restaurant.

Brittany Baron, manager of communications for Olive Garden, confirmed the company's plans. Springfield Business Journal reached out to the company after a building permit was filed with the city of Springfield indicating a new Olive Garden eatery would be built at 3370 W. Sunshine St. in the Sunshine Towne Center, where a Target store also is underway.

"We’re thrilled to open our second Olive Garden in Springfield and can’t wait to serve guests never-ending amounts of soup, salad and breadsticks when they dine with us," Baron said via email. "We’re early in the process, but we expect to open in summer of next year."

Olive Garden has long operated in Springfield at 3105 S. Glenstone Ave., near Battlefield Mall.

In the Sunshine Towne Center on the west side of the city, Olive Garden's new restaurant would be part of a $60 million development with Target's second Springfield store as its anchor. The 23-acre site was previously occupied by Elite Homes Center, a manufactured and modular home dealer.

Curtis Jared, president and CEO of Jared Enterprises Inc., and St. Louis-area developer Tom Walker are developing Sunshine Towne Center through Springfield West Partners LLC, according to past reporting. They sold a portion of the property at the site to Target for the retailer's new store.

The Olive Garden restaurant chain is operated by parent company Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI). Olive Garden has nearly 900 restaurants, more than 99,000 employees and over $4.9 billion in annual sales, according to its website.