LongHorn WILL rebuild at Toco Hills
Orlando-based Darden Restaurants does intend to reopen their Toco Hills location of LongHorn Steakhouse. The freestanding restaurant, a neighborhood mainstay for over 30 years, closed last June after an after hours fire destroyed much of the building.
This past February, the building was finally demolished, but but still sits idle. This past July, I posted an update to the saga with news that permits were filed to increase the size of the building and reduce the number of parking spaces.
Last month a reader commented that they were told (by a local LongHorn employee) that the LongHorn would be rebuilt but would be a new two story, prototype location.
I called my LongHorn in Orlando to verify whether this was true. The answer I received was that this location would look similar to other, recently built LongHorn locations and that there were no plans for a new, two-story location on this site.
This week I was forwarded a communication between a neighborhood customer and a LongHorn "Guest Relations" representative. The message, apparently in response to a questions as to when/if the Toco Hills location would reopen began "at this time we do not have plans to rebuild the restaurant in that location." As this contradicted what I had just been told days earlier, I again called Orlando for clarification. I was informed yesterday that this "Guest Relations" representative was inaccurate in her response, and that the company still planned to rebuild. My contact went on to say that current projections call for the new LongHorn to be open and operating by next summer.
My next question, where is Flo?