photo by: AdobeStock

An Olive Garden restaurant is shown in this 2020 photo.

Plans are in the works for Lawrence to get an Olive Garden restaurant — with a Crimson and Blue hue nonetheless.

The Journal-World has seen construction documents that show an Olive Garden Italian restaurant slated for the northeast corner of 21st and Iowa streets, which is part of The Crossing development that is being brought forward by the KU Endowment Association.

That would put the chain restaurant across the street from a new Dillons grocery store that also is being built in a portion of the KU development. The Dillons store is being built in the portion of the development that is west of Iowa Street. The Olive Garden is planned for the smaller section of the development that is east of Iowa Street. That section also includes a new Truity Credit Union building, which is under construction about a block north of the proposed Olive Garden site.

An official with the KU Endowment Association — which owns the land and controls which entities are allowed to develop on it — confirmed it was working with Olive Garden, and referred questions about the project to Olive Garden’s corporate headquarters. An attempt to reach a spokeswoman there wasn’t immediately successful.

Due to its ties to KU, The Crossing project — which will include a mix of retail, office and residential uses — is exempt from going through the City of Lawrence’s normal development processes, which would have included a public site plan for the site. However, an Overland Park construction firm currently is seeking subcontractors to help build an Olive Garden location in Lawrence. The Journal-World saw copies of those bid documents, which clearly list the project as the construction of a new Olive Garden restaurant and also shows the specific site at the corner of 21st and Iowa streets.

The connection to KU also means the Olive Garden restaurant will get a set of economic development incentives that already have been approved by local governments as part of a master agreement that was approved for the entire Crossing development nearly two years ago.

In March 2023, the city commissioners approved a pair of special taxing districts that encompass the first phase of The Crossing development, which includes the proposed Olive Garden site. The first taxing district allows for the developers to receive a 95% property tax rebate on all new property taxes that are generated as a result of development on the site. That rebate program — known as Tax Increment Financing — will last for up to 20 years.

The second taxing district allows businesses that locate in the development to charge an extra 1.5% sales tax on sales made in the district. That sales tax program — known as a Community Improvement District — can last up to 22 years.

Both the property tax rebate and the additional sales taxes will be used to pay for a variety of development costs in the district, including roads, utilities and parking to serve the businesses. City commissioners on a split vote approved both incentive requests, noting that the property has long been tax exempt given it has been owned by the KU Endowment Association since the 1940s. The new development makes the property taxable, meaning that even with the 95% property tax rebate, the property will be paying significantly more in property taxes than it has previously.

The city and county also will fully collect and keep all the normal sales taxes that will be generated by businesses at the development. Only the special 1.5% sales tax will be returned to the developers.

However, commissioners approved the incentive request before knowing any of the tenants for The Crossing project. City commissioners in the past have been reluctant to provide tax incentives to restaurant projects. On Tuesday, for instance, commissioners delayed an incentives request for the Q39 BBQ restaurant project in downtown Lawrence, in part, because some commissioners thought providing an incentive to a restaurant project strayed too far from the city’s practice.

In fact, if you go way back to 2011, a plan for Olive Garden to locate on a site further south on Iowa Street — 27th and Iowa streets — fell apart after it became clear that city commissioners would not support an incentives request for the project.

In short, this Olive Garden proposal won’t have to face any such vote at City Hall.

The restaurant is slated to be part of a much bigger project that actually is part of a major effort by KU to convert its West Campus property into a live-work-play district that will attract both researchers and private companies that want to locate next to KU researchers.

The West Campus area already is home to KU’s pharmacy school and a series of business incubators that operate under the name Innovation Park. KU last year won $22 million in federal funding to build a new national security research center in Lawrence. That space also could include offices for Panasonic to locate a research office to support its $4 billion electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in nearby De Soto, KU Chancellor Douglas Girod has told the Journal-World.

KU leaders think even more research and business activities are possible for the park as the are around it transforms into a multi-use district. The Dillons, the Truity Credit Union and now the Olive Garden projects are the three known commercial elements of The Crossing thus far, although KU Endowment officials may have other deals that haven’t yet been publicly announced.

In 2023, when The Crossing development was being presented to City Commissioners, KU Endowment officials said they envisioned 400 multi-family living units, a hotel, 75,000 square feet of office space and 50,000 square feet of retail and dining uses as part of the project’s first phase.

University leaders are projecting the park to have a big economic impact on the local economy. By 2026, park employment is expected to top 900 employees with payroll of more than $60 million. By 2036, park leaders are projecting more than 4,000 jobs and payroll topping $260 million.