By BILL ROGERS

SEBRING — The Olive Garden will build a restaurant in Sebring, but fans of the Italian eatery will have to wait until next year to enjoy its food.

Mara Frazier, manager of media relations for the Darden restaurant, confirmed Thursday that it will locate a restaurant on an outparcel at The Shops at Shelby Crossing, located on U.S. 27 next to Lowe’s.

Construction is projected to begin in either late October or November of this year. It is expected to open in either April or May 2008.

Olive Garden has plans to build a 7,400 square-foot building on the site. It will feature a Tuscan-farmhouse design that was inspired by Olive Garden’s Riserva di Fizzano restaurant in Tuscany, Italy.

The restaurant will have a stone exterior. Vaulted ceilings, supported by exposed wood beams, stone and wood accents throughout, and terra cotta tile highlight the interior.

Most new Olive Garden restaurants have been built in the Tuscan-farmhouse design since February 2000.

The Sebring restaurant will employ between 150 and 165 full-and part-time employees, according to Frazier.

There are currently 54 Olive Gardens in Florida and 595 in the United States and Canada.

Work on the 220,000 square-foot shopping center is under way. Stores that are planning to occupy space in the u-shaped center, according to the developer, include: Bed Bath and Beyond, Ross, Michael’s Arts and Crafts, Famous Footwear, Party City, Marshalls, Books-A-Million, Petco and Circuit City.