Olive Garden moves forward with building permits for restaurant in Spokane Valley

Olive Garden is one step closer to building a restaurant in Spokane Valley.

California-based RSI Group Inc., a design, development and construction company, filed an application with the city for building permits that include demolishing Hong Kong Buffet at 14742 E. Indiana Ave. and replacing it with a more than 7,700-square-foot Olive Garden restaurant.

California-based CRHO Architects is the project designer. CRHO Architects has designed several Olive Garden restaurants nationwide.

The restaurant chain initially expressed interest in the site near Spokane Valley Mall in November, filing preliminary plans with the city to build a new restaurant.

The project valuation is $1.7 million, according to city documents.

Olive Garden did not respond to a request for comment.

Olive Garden has restaurants in north Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. The Florida-based restaurant chain closed a location in downtown Spokane in 2015, citing poor performance.

Olive Garden is a division of Darden Restaurants, which also owns Longhorn Steakhouse, Yard House and The Capital Grille. It has more than 850 restaurants and 96,000 employees nationwide.