Olive Garden, Big 5 coming to Southgate shopping center

The rumors were true: Olive Garden is coming to Carson City.

The announcement was made at the Board of Supervisor's meeting this morning where they approved an amended redevelopment plan for the Southgate shopping center in south Carson City.

Under the agreement, Big 5 Sporting Goods will move from its north Carson City location, 3727 N Carson St., to the Southgate shopping center that includes the Burlington Coat Factory and Big Lots, which is slated for a grand opening next month.

Olive Garden will construct a new building adjacent to S. Carson St.

Under the deal, Carson Southgate LLC., will keep 50 percent of the sales tax generated by Big Lots and Big 5 while all of the sales tax revenue from the Olive Garden - estimated to be about $157,500 - will go to the city.

Southgate developer Rob Rothe said lending for the project was predicated on the shopping center keeping half of the sales tax generated by Big Lots and Big 5.

Rothe said with the added revenue generated by Olive Garden, the city will receive 70 percent of the sales tax generated by the three properties.

Mayor Bob Crowell was the only dissenting vote, saying previous redevelopment deals gave the city 80 percent of the revenue. Supervisor Shelly Aldean did not vote because she owns property in the Southgate shopping center.

The redevelopment plan for the Southgate shopping center was drafted in 2007 when the city was courting Sportsman Warehouse to fill the vacant box left by Walmart earlier last decade.

That deal fell through after the Sportsman Warehouse went bust two months before opening.