Curious to know when The Depot will open in Old Town Bluffton? Here’s what we know about the progress

Old Town Dispensary fans curious to know when its expansion, The Depot restaurant & Raw Bar next door, will debut in Old Town Bluffton have been responsive to the project in progress, according to co-owner Thomas Viljac.

“We’ve had nothing but rave reviews of people ready to come in,” he said.

Viljac, who revealed plans for The Depot on Captains Cove with co-owner Matt Jording in August 2015, said Thursday a few changes made with the mechanical engineer on the project and development issues delayed the opening of Bluffton’s newest fine dining restaurant. Nearly a year since the original projected opening date of spring 2016, he said he didn’t have an exact opening date at this time, but the project was getting close.

“(It’s) fixing to be done,” he said.

Some of those revisions include adding 25 seats at the raw bar, a second hood for the grills, changing all the lighting to LED and switching the kitchen to natural gas, he said.

“These changes had to happen from a functionality standpoint,” he said. “So that’s what we’re actually having to do; we’re following up with all the drawings and the engineer’s consultant.”

In addition to some engineering delays, co-owner Matt Jording and Carol Jording, a financial manager of The Dispensary, LLC, filed a lawsuit against Viljac in November 2016.

According to the original complaint filed November 8, 2016, the Jordings filed an action “to dissociate Defendant Viljac as a member of The Dispensary, LLC and to recover damages from Defendant Viljac resulting from his negligence, multiple instances of intentional misconduct, breach of fiduciary duty and conversion to his own use of Dispensary assets.”

The complaint continues to claim construction at The Depot was “incomplete, and substantial additional funding will be required to complete the project ... the exact amount of additional funding that will be required to complete construction has yet to be determined but it is estimated that it will be in the range of approximately $150,000.”

Viljac and the Jordings entered an alternative dispute resolution in the form of mediation on Jan. 23, per court documents, partially settling the case. As of Friday, the case is still pending, according to the Beaufort County 14th Judicial Circuit Public Index.

Jording said Thursday he had no comment about the lawsuit.

Viljac also said he could not comment on the suit, but said his relationship with Jording was better.

“Matt and I are in a good place right now,” he said. “And that was actually a while back. We’ve come a long way since that.”

This story was originally published April 28, 2017 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Curious to know when The Depot will open in Old Town Bluffton? Here’s what we know about the progress."