Preliminary work begins on Olive Garden in Aiken
Nov. 4—Preliminary work has begun on the future Olive Garden in Aiken.
A truck from Columbia Sheet Metal, a commercial and industrial heating, ventilating and air conditioning company, was parked outside of the former Golden Corral that will be torn down to make way for the Olive Garden on Friday morning.
Also, a construction worker at the adjacent Zaxby's (also under construction) said Thursday afternoon he had seen people that morning working on the HVAC units and working inside the building located at 2265 Whiskey Road.
The Golden Corral buffet restaurant closed in early 2020.
The construction timeline for the restaurant is not currently known; however, the plans call for the demolition of the Golden Corral building and its replacement with a slightly smaller building and more landscaping. The existing building is 9,331 square feet, while the proposed Olive Garden would be 7,805 square feet.
The Aiken City Council gave its final approval for the plans — the property had to be rezoned from general business to planned commercial and a concept plan had to be submitted and approved — on May 9.
The city council voted to approve the first reading of an ordinance rezoning the property and approving the concept plan on April 25.
The Aiken Planning Commission recommended approval of the rezoning and the plans on April 12.
Plans to turn the former Golden Corral into an Olive Garden were submitted to the city in March.
"It's something I know the residents have asked about for a number of years," Aiken City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh told the Aiken Standard in March.
The plan calls for the proposed Olive Garden to have 235 seats and 117 parking spaces.
The building's exterior would consist of a stone veneer with elements of stone cladding and brick veneer, according to documents submitted to the city.
Bedenbaugh said Friday that he did not know of any changes to the plans to construct the Olive Garden.
The proposed Olive Garden site is near the busy Publix shopping center and an area slated for lots of redevelopment. The former home of Ruby Tuesday is slated to become a Zaxby's, and the Chick-fil-A next door recently underwent a renovation to expand the kitchen and drive-thru areas.
Also, the heavily commercial area sits at one of the gateways to the Aiken Mall, whose developers recently showed updated concept plans. These plans showed proposed locations and layout of restaurant or retail space, apartments, a hotel, a park, amphitheater and walking trail.
The existing Aiken Mall is scheduled to be completely demolished this year, with construction of the new structures starting afterward.
Workers have been busy putting a new façade on the Belk department store at the site of the former Aiken Mall.
"We're blocking in those old columns and we're painting the entire exterior white, so it will have a fresh look," said Jason Long, a senior vice president with Southeastern, in October. Southeastern is the Augusta-based company that is heading up the redevelopment of the Southside property.
On the side of the Belk building that used to be attached to the mall before nearly all of that structure was demolished, "there will be a new entrance," Long said. "We'll install a new wall, and it will have a brand new façade. That also will be painted white so it all ties in together."
