Greenfield's Advisory Plan Commission has signed off on a development plan for a LongHorn Steakhouse in the 1800 block of North State Street, clearing the way for the steak chain to join a stretch of the corridor already anchored by a bank and a Culver's. The commission approved the plan during a meeting on Tuesday, though no construction start date or opening date has been announced.
The project calls for a 5,780-square-foot restaurant with 130 parking spaces, including five accessible spots, according to The Daily Reporter - Greenfield Indiana. The site sits south of GBC Bank's main office and north of Culver's, with earlier filings placing the address at 1868 N. State St., between the two businesses. Access would come from southbound State Street via a curb cut, along with connections to Culver's parking lot to the south, a new access drive to the west, and GBC Bank's entry drive to the north.
The Roberts Group of Kentucky submitted the restaurant plans, and the firm has previously provided services to other national chains including Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Bonefish Grill and Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen. The application itself was filed under case number DEV26-00005 in a zone designated Commercial North, and it sought approval for a full-service restaurant with curbside pickup, cross-access easements and offsite drainage. A separate filing had listed CDS Development, represented by Steve Wiscaver on behalf of LongHorn Steakhouse, as the applicant — a detail that sits alongside The Roberts Group's role as the firm that submitted the plans.
Hancock Health's Land and a Growing Economic Development Area
The land beneath the proposed restaurant is owned by Hancock Health, which intends to develop the property. The site is part of a roughly 9.6-acre area the city's redevelopment commission designated the Hancock Village Economic Development Area in 2025, a designation that makes it eligible for tax increment financing. Infrastructure work on the ground had already commenced by the time the development plans were filed.
Greenfield City Planning Director Jenna Wertman said the LongHorn site is the first lot of that development. Wertman also said the restaurant is expected to draw more take-out customers and parking demand tied to its staffing needs, a factor that fed into the parking discussion at the commission meeting.
A Commissioner Presses on Parking Numbers
Greenfield's Unified Development Ordinance requires restaurant parking at a rate of one space per employee on the largest shift plus one space per four seats, which set LongHorn's required minimum at 71 spaces. The city's development code allows parking up to 150% of that requirement before a business needs to file a modification request; LongHorn's proposed 130 spaces exceed that threshold and require a parking modification. The project also sought modifications to code provisions covering landscaping, parking and site coverage.
Planning commission member Derek Adams questioned the need for roughly 34% more parking than nearby Montana Mike's Steakhouse, which has 102 spaces despite a building size the Daily Reporter's report described as around the same as the proposed LongHorn — a gap of 28 spaces between the two restaurants. Lovell Foushee, project manager at The Roberts Group, responded that the company's client knows its own business volume and parking needs, and said the requested parking was meant to let the restaurant operate properly without putting undue pressure on neighboring properties.
Part of a Larger Hospital-Led Campus
The LongHorn parcel is tied into a much bigger undertaking by Hancock Health, which serves as master developer of Hancock Gateway Park, a 160-acre mixed-use campus in western Hancock County south of Interstate 70, as reported by Inside INdiana Business. That outlet reports the broader development is expected to eventually include more than 1,000 housing units, upscale retail and additions to the hospital itself.
Progress elsewhere on the campus has already taken shape: a 200-unit Riley Crossing apartment project along Interstate 70 was completed late last year, while a dual-branded hotel and conference center was slated for completion later this year, per the same outlet's report. More than $22 million in tax increment financing revenue has gone toward supporting the overall project, on top of $130 million that Hancock Health and private investors have already spent on campus developments.
Greenfield's zoning rules that governed the LongHorn review fall under the city's Unified Development Ordinance, which the City of Greenfield says combines the city's land use, subdivision and zoning codes into a single document. LongHorn Steakhouse is owned by Darden Restaurants, whose portfolio also includes Olive Garden. With the development plan now approved, the chain has cleared a key local hurdle, though when dirt will actually move on North State Street remains to be seen.
