The Villager owner: ‘We’re not opening the restaurant there’

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Pinehurst deli owner is out, deal with new tenant imminent

By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com

ROCKINGHAM — The owner of a Pinehurst deli said Thursday that he is not, in fact, opening a second location in Rockingham.

In June, The Pee Dee Post was the first to report that Koley Keel would bring to Richmond County and downtown Rockingham a second deli. However, Keel said Thursday that wasn’t going to happen.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com Construction moves along on the building across from Discovery Place KIDS Thursday morning even as news of a change in tenants was revealed.

Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Construction moves along on the building across from Discovery Place KIDS Thursday morning even as news of a change in tenants was revealed.

“We’re not opening the restaurant there,” Keel said in a telephone interview. “The deal changed. It wasn’t my doing.”

Keel referred all other questions to Rockingham City Manager Monty Crump.

Crump confirmed Keel’s statement and said that he is “very close with a lease with another tenant.”

Crump said the length and value of the lease, along with the amount of the tenant’s monthly payments, had been agreed upon through a handshake with a Richmond County business owner and that an announcement could be made “probably within the next two weeks.”

Any contract must be approved by the Rockingham City Council, Crump noted.

Oakboro-based Carpenter Construction was awarded the $806,831 project, funded primarily by two major grants — $475,000 from the Cole Foundation and $281,331 from the Richmond Community Foundation, with the rest from the city of Rockingham to cover administrate and design-related fees — and is on a 240-day timeline. Work is expected to be completed later this year.

Crump said he’s working with the contractor to outfit the new restaurant’s kitchen to meet the likely tenant’s requirements. He’s also working with the Richmond County Health Department to ensure the project is in compliance with all regulations.

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  • Jonathan Rudd

    Wow. Another restaurant in Rockingham. Wow. Another minimum wage job(s) in Rockingham. Go figure…

    • David Fieg

      Wonder if Hudson Brothers and Henry’s Uptown Cafe have ever even been approached? I rather doubt that. Hey, I have a brainstorm. How about opening a House of Fish

      • mltex

        I’d agree with the House of Fish. Miss them, but still willing to take my money out of county for great fish.

  • Randall Benton

    Am I understanding this right????? Rockingham does not and / or did not have a legal contract with a business to occupy the new restaurant in town? Sounds to me that now they are looking for a tenant business to fill the building? I sure hope all that economic development money does not go to waste on and empty building.

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