It’s coming. After many rumors and even an informal reader survey that named Olive Garden the business readers would most like to land in the New River Valley, it’s official: The Italian chain restaurant is coming to Christiansburg.

Olive Garden spokeswoman Mara Frazier said Friday that the company has a contract to bring the eatery and its cheese ravioli, chicken scampi and garlic breadsticks to Christiansburg.

Frazier said work on a roughly 7,400-square-foot Tuscan farmhouse-style building is targeted to start in late September or early October.

If construction goes according to current estimates, the restaurant would open in March 2008.

This will likely come as good news to several readers who wrote and e-mailed in response to a Current story in October 2005 that asked what they’d like to see locate in the region.

More than 40 people mailed in responses and there were more than 200 submitted via e-mail and at roanoke.com. They requested some 88 different businesses. The top vote-getter — with 17 votes — was Olive Garden.

“OLIVE GARDEN !!!!!! Who’s missing the boat here?” one reader wrote.

More than a year later, it seems the chain’s executives have taken notice.

Once open, Frazier estimated, the restaurant would seat 247 diners and employ about 160 people in both culinary and service positions.

Frazier said Monday the company does not have a specific address for the restaurant yet. But its nearest crossroads are U.S. 460 and Virginia 114.

In Christiansburg, a couple of retail and commercial developments fit the bill, including a large power strip being built alongside the New River Valley Mall.

Mall General Manager Mike Poldiak said mall owner Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust will begin structure construction in the next month to hold at least seven retail stores and two restaurants.

A Panera Bread is already slated for one of the strip’s restaurant spaces and Poldiak said he expects Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust to announce a full list of tenants in coming weeks.

The power strip is expected to be up and open in August or September.

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