Pee Dee River Swamp Sauce creator to open up across from Discovery Place KIDS
By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
Previous coverage:
* April 28: Making way
* May 20: No restaurant yet inked to deal
* June 24: The Villager expanding to Rockingham
* July 9: Sounds of progress
* Oct. 30: The Villager out, new tenant deal imminent
Details and photos coming soon
ROCKINGHAM — Tim Pattan’s award-winning Pee Dee River Swamp Sauce is coming to downtown Rockingham.
The 46-year-old gathered with Rockingham Mayor Steve Morris and City Manager Monty Crump Wednesday afternoon at City Hall to make the announcement. The deal is a 10-year term with a monthly rent of $2,500. Pattan also is responsible for all utilities.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Rockingham Mayor Steve Morris, center, talks with Tim Pattan, owner of Pattan’s Downtown Grille, right, and City Manager Monty Crump outside Hitchcock Place.
The restaurant will be called Pattan’s Downtown Grille. The building will be called Hitchcock Place, instantly tying the building and its potential with the Hitchcock Creek Blue Trail and Greenway. The goal is to open between Jan. 15 and Feb. 1, Pattan said. Hours are expected to be Monday through Wednesday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday lunch, though an exact time range has yet to be determined.
Pattan said he’s been planning a restaurant for nearly 10 years.
“To see it finally come to fruition is a dream come true,” Pattan said. “This is a great opportunity for myself. I’m real excited.”
Work is being completed now in the building across the street from Discovery Place KIDs on East Washington Street to upfit the kitchen for Rockingham’s newest barbecue. It will be owned by Pattan, of Swampsauce Smokers. The multipurpose building also will be used as a lunch room, or assembly hall, for students visit
ing the nonprofit children’s museum. Students will be bringing bagged lunches and enjoying their meal indoors, completely separate from Pattan’s Downtown Grille.
The restaurant side will seat 44 people plus another 20 diners on an outdoor patio. Up to 93 people can eat on the assembly hall side. The assembly can be reserved through Pattan at no cost, officials said, with the only restriction being no outside food allowed.
“I plan on filling it up a good bit,” Pattan said.
To accommodate the expected crowds, Pattan said he intends to hire between eight and 10 full-time staff members and another eight to 10 part-time workers.
The menu will include, of course, Pattan’s legendary barbecue and sauce but also a variety of other options, including healthy lean-chicken meals and salads.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
Rockingham City Manager Monty Crump reviews the earth tone colors intended for use in the assembly hall and Pattan’s Downtown Grille.
Workers with Carpenter Construciton, of Oakboro, are making headway on the kitchen side. The location was originally set to be leased to Koley Keel, a Moore County businessman who owns the popular The Villager deli and restaurant in Pinehurst.
City officials announced on Oct. 30 that the tentative deal between Keel and the city was a no-go. Keel said it wasn’t his decision to not expand to Rockingham. Then the city approached Pattan.
“He has convinced me he is 100 percent ready,” Crump said of Pattan’s work with the Richmond County Health Department and other preparations to keep construction moving forward.
The $806,831 project coordinated by the city of Rockingham and funded primarily by two major grants — $475,000 from the Cole Foundation and $281,331 from the Richmond Community Foundation — and is on a 240-day timeline. Work is expected to be completed in late 2014. That’s on top of the $2 million from the Leon Levine Foundation donated for Discovery Place KIDS.
Crump and Morris noted that within the last six-plus years, the city has added Hinson Lake, Hitchcock Creek Blue Trail and Greenway and Discovery Place KIDs. Pattan’s Downtown Grille is another piece of the puzzle to make Rockingham and Richmond County a destination, they said.
Kevin Spradlin | PeeDeePost.com
“I think the community has an obligation to continue to work … to leverage these investments,” Crump said. “That’s what I like about Tim. Being local, he understands that.”
“I”m not only selling my product, I’m selling the city, selling the county,” Pattan said.
Walking into either the assembly hall or the casual-style dining room of Pattan’s Downtown Grille, Crump said images of local treasures — outdoor recreation, museums and more — will be portrayed by framed high-resolution photographs by Jimmy McDonald.
Crump and Morris both acknowledged this isn’t the first public-private partnership intended to spark downtown Rockingham. Pattan confirmed that without the city’s investment, and that of the Cole Foundation, his restaurant would likely be located somewhere else.
The city’s portion of the cost of the project, mostly for the design and equipping of the kitchen, is being paid for up front by the city’s Revolving Loan Fund. That fund, Crump said, is “there to make loans the bank won’t make.”
He said the fund is there for solid business concepts whether for a restaurant or “for somebody to build a manufacturing facility.”
Patton’s restaurant isn’t the first dining establishment to receive city assistance. The former Alonzo’s on Rockingham Road didn’t work, but the city did its best to help. Crump also said Henry’s Uptown Cafe received a low-interest city loan and renovations to Hudson Bros. Deli received city assistance.
