A new Olive Garden will move into the Centre Region by the end of 2001 or early 2002.

If work progresses according to plans, the Italian restaurant franchise will open in Patton Township's Williamsburg Square.

The property, which is owned by the Shaner Hotel Group of State College, is already home to Holiday Inn Express and Outback Steakhouse.

Olive Garden did not set a specific opening date because problems with weather could delay the opening, said Steve Coe, Olive Garden's director of media relations.

The 8,000-square-foot restaurant will seat between 275 and 300 patrons and will be constructed in the company's Tuscan farmhouse design, Coe said.

"All of the restaurants we are opening are built in this style," he said about the place.

The design debuted last February and features more use of stone and wood.

In most of the new restaurants, it also includes an expanded bar area, 20- to 22-foot-high ceilings and an outdoor patio seating area.

Coe said the new Olive Garden restaurants are more "open and airy" and more aesthetically authentic to traditional Italian farmhouses.

Plato Ghinos, the Shaner Hotel Group's vice president of development, said he is pleased with the new architectural design that Olive Garden uses because the image fits into Williamsburg Square's style.

"We want to give it a residential feel, a colonial look," Ghinos said.

When the Shaner Hotel Group, 303 Science Park Road, first began developing Williamsburg Square about five years ago, its goal was to bring in to the area some of the

bigger names in hotels and restaurants.

The process began with Holiday Inn Express, 1925 Waddle Road, and Outback Steakhouse, 1905 Waddle Road, Ghinos said.

"That was a great combination," Ghinos said.

"They're two great brand names, and we thought State College would benefit."

The Shaner Hotel Group wanted to bring in another well-known name as part of phase two of the development process, he said.

The company negotiated and signed a deal with the Olive Garden approximately six months ago.

The hotel group will also build a Hampton Inn & Suites and a new corporate office at Williamsburg Square.

"Olive Garden was the concept or type of restaurant that was missing," Ghinos said.

The hotel group is working to establish a close relationship with Penn State's School of Hotel, Restaurant and Recreation Management to provide students with job and internship opportunities and a chance to gain more experience, Ghinos said.

Although he did not want to estimate how many workers the company would hire, Coe said each restaurant typically employs 80 to 100 people.

He expects the Patton Township Olive Garden will hire student-workers. Olive Garden brings in experienced workers to help with the training process, he said.

The Olive Garden is a division of Darden Restaurants, Inc., the world's largest casual dining company. According to Darden Restaurants' Web site, the company operates more than 1,100 Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones restaurants in North America.

Each restaurant is company-owned and offers no franchise opportunities.

The success of Red Lobster, 1670 N. Atherton St., may have been a factor in the decision to open an Olive Garden in State College, Coe said.

"We have site survey people who travel all over looking for a place where the demand is such for an Olive Garden," Coe said about the process.