Chart House on Hilton Head Island is closed right now — but is this permanent?

The sign on the door of Chart House, a seafood restaurant at 2 Hudson Road on Hilton Head Island, reads “temporarily closed until further notice.”

The restaurant’s website says the same thing.

But some customers and employees at Chart House say they are under the impression that the establishment is permanently closed.

Last week, a Facebook user, who said he was an employee of Chart House, posted in Bluffton/Hilton Head Ask and Answer, an online group dedicated to crowd-sourcing community questions, and said he and other members of the staff were looking for serving jobs because the restaurant had closed for good.

Another Facebook user who said she was an employee made a similar post to friends and family about the permanent closing of Chart House.

Shortly after, readers of The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette began to inquire about the fate of Chart House.

When asked if the Hilton Head location was permanently closed, a public relations representative of Landry’s Restaurant Group, which owns Chart House, forwarded the question to the company’s chief operating officer, who said only that the waterfront restaurant is currently closed.

“The Chart House Hilton Head location closed on Oct. 5, 2016, due to Hurricane Matthew and has not reopened for business,” said Howard Cole, who responded in an email. “It will remain closed until further notice. We value our employees, their work experience and dedication to our company so, in the interim, we are working to relocate them to our nearby sister properties.”

The closest open Chart House is in downtown Savannah.

The extent of damage to Chart House Hilton Head is unclear, and the Landry Restaurant Group did not respond to questions about whether the restaurant is closed for repairs.

A view of Chart House from two neighboring restaurants, both of which were damaged in the storm but have since reopened, shows a demolished dock.

Customer Rhonda Neely of Bluffton said she tried to visit Chart House on Sunday, not knowing it would be closed.

She said she called the restaurant Tuesday around noon to ask what the hours might be, and a man who answered told her they were still closed.

Neely said she asked how long the business might be closed and that the man told her the location was closed for good.

“It’s a shame,” she said. “It is a great location, and (I) always enjoyed it.”

This story was originally published November 2, 2016 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Chart House on Hilton Head Island is closed right now — but is this permanent?."