Restaurant coming to Hwy 3?

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I don’t have the best track record when it comes to breaking news about restaurants along Hwy 3 south.

But a staff person at a nearby business told my wife that this construction on Jefferson Road is going to be an Olive Garden. I thought I’d pass it along as an official rumor. Anyone know fer shure?

Update 3/18: I’ve added two photos (center and right). Click to enlarge. It’s a Jasnoch Construction project: address: 1531 Clinton Lane.

Update 3/19: it’s evidently more office/retail space, not a restaurant. Read the comment thread for more. I’ve added a question mark to the blog post title to make myself look better.

15 Comments

  1. Holly Cairns said:

    Yea! The only other thing we need down here is a Chipotle.

    The new Sociale has great food, too, by the way.

    I love it when we get things down here. No more driving north.

    March 16, 2007
  2. Anne Bretts said:

    If they’ve moved any dirt there has to be a building permit. I’m sure if Olive Garden is committed enough to have a building going up, they’d confirm. I’d be surprised that it’s OG, because they usually pick bigger markets, but you never know.

    March 16, 2007
  3. Anne Bretts said:

    Patience is a virtue sorely lacking in my gene pool, so I called Dan Olson at City Hall and he hasn’t pulled any permits for any restaurants in town. He was having difficulty pinpointing the location in the photo but said if we give him an address he can confirm whatever it is that is going on.

    March 16, 2007
  4. BP + Arby’s + Super America + McDonalds + Subway + Caribou Coffee + Tires Plus + Target + Cub Foods + Applebees + Taco Bell + Ginormous Movieplex + Papa Murphy’s + Wells Fargo + Olive Garden (maybe?) = Beautiful Historic Northfield

    Seriously, we do seem care a lot about development in Nfld — but that care ends south of 9th street or north of 2nd.

    March 16, 2007
  5. To be fair, though, I’m slightly more fond of this rumor than the KFC one.

    March 16, 2007
  6. Holly Cairns said:

    KFC= Northfield= out of business in 1984ish, would they put another one in here? Yuck!

    March 16, 2007
  7. Alex Beeby said:

    Olive Garden? How’s the salad?

    March 17, 2007
  8. John Thomas said:

    NO KFC! Ewww Yuck! I would not eat that even if it was free.

    I’m not real thrilled about Olive Garden either. There are some local places that serve pasta. Why would I need it? I am hoping that this rumor is NOT true. It seems that this location would be too small. I will have to drive by and check again.

    Chipotle. I like Chipotle, but I would rather go to Maria’s.

    I like to know who is preparing my food.

    Call me a NIMBY, and call me odd, but I would rather see this type of development past Furlong Motors, on the way to Dundas. This seems a little too close to existing residential areas, and will lower property values. At least it matches everything else. I was hoping for more medical or office space on the Eastern side of that lot, with some light retail on the west (hwy 3) side, and some trees/shrubs as a buffer.

    March 19, 2007
  9. Anne Bretts said:

    I don’t think you have anything to worry about. There is no building permit, there’s nothing on the Olive Garden website, and Northfield is nowhere near close to the minimum population for one. Maybe after Lakeville and Apple Valley — and another 20,000 people and a shoppping center — but not now.

    March 19, 2007
  10. Griff Wigley said:

    I’ve added two photos to the original post. It’s a Jasnoch Construction project at 1531 Clinton Lane. It’s in the same development where the new Tires Plus and Snap Fitness are, ie, between Jefferson Road and Hwy 3 so.

    March 19, 2007
  11. Anne Bretts said:

    According to Dan Olson at City Hall, it’s another office/retail space, to go along with the others nearby.

    March 19, 2007
  12. John said:

    Call me a NIMBY, and call me odd, but I would rather see this type of development past Furlong Motors, on the way to Dundas. This seems a little too close to existing residential areas, and will lower property values. At least it matches everything else. I was hoping for more medical or office space on the Eastern side of that lot, with some light retail on the west (hwy 3) side, and some trees/shrubs as a buffer.

    Ha. As long as we’re talking in the hypothetical, how about just not building it at all? Both Olive Garden and KFC are tacky and KFC’s food is disgusting (I think I had a nightmare once about being forced to eat one of their mashed potato/corn/fried chicken bowls).

    And if it did have to be somewhere, I’d rather see it somewhere north of town — the south is already overpowered by this sort of thing.

    March 19, 2007
  13. Griff Wigley said:

    Thanks for the city hall verification, Anne. My record of being incorrect on Hwy 3 restaurant news is intact!

    March 19, 2007
  14. Anne Bretts said:

    Thanks, Griff, but rumor busting — and dashing the hopes of hungry residents — well, it’s all just part of the job. I write about real estate all the time, so ask away and I’ll check it out.
    If you want salads and pasta and amazing food of all kinds, head to St. Olaf. The student restaurant (way too good to be called a cafeteria) would give Olive Garden a run for its money.

    March 19, 2007

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