Traci Huth of Green Scene Landscaping in Stafford County prunes the rooftop garden at Carrabba's Italian Grill in Central Park. smc Visit the Photo Place

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Making the most of every space

Carrabba's puts plants on its roof to bring customers in the front door.

By CATHY JETT

Date published: 7/10/2004

By CATHY JETT Carrabba's roof features daylilies, creeping junipers

A Tuscan-style garden is grabbing drivers' attention as they zip along Fall Hill Avenue.

But it's not planted along the edges on either side of this quickly developing area.

It's on a roof.

"It does catch the eye when people are driving by," said Chad Jordan, manager of Carrabba's Italian Grill in Central Park. "And that gets them down in here."

The lush, rooftop garden--which features columnar junipers, creeping junipers and daylilies--is something of a trademark for the national chain.

"We try to get the 'Wow!' factor into everything we do here at Carrabba's," Jordan said. "The roof is definitely a 'Wow!' factor."

The idea was dreamed up by Manhattan architect James Wines, whom Carrabba's executives hired about six years ago to create a distinctive look that captured the flavor of Italy. Founders Johnny Carrabba and his uncle Damian Mandola use recipes brought over from the old country by their families.

"Originally, the plans were a lot more lavish," said Rick Beach, Carrabba's vice president of construction. "He wanted to add a 2-foot-wide landscaped trench that went up the side of the building, but the costs were ridiculous."

Wines' plans were trimmed to just the sloping, poured concrete roof that wraps around two sides of Carrabba's restaurants. It overhangs wide front and side porches, forming a 1,000-square-foot, L-shaped planter.

"It's tied to the existing structure, but beefed up to support the landscaping," Beach said. "The beams are thicker and spaced closer together than they'd be in a normal building. The structural engineers designed it to support more than it actually holds."

Carrabba's installed its first landscaped roof in 1998 in Orlando, Fla., and it has been a feature of every restaurant the chain has built since then. Currently, about 100 Carrabba's Italian Grills in 29 states have them.

While the chain's executives see the design as a way to draw customers and create a sense of place, such living roofs can have a variety of other benefits. Germans started the trend 30 years ago as a way to help replace land lost to development and manage stormwater runoff, said Linda Velazquez of greenroofs.com.

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Date published: 7/10/2004