Rusty Rudder on LKN closing.....

CliffA

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2009
4,712
Lake Norman, NC
Boat Info
2001 Sea Ray 340DA
Name: 'Happy Place'
4.5kW West. Generator
Purchased Nov. 2014
Fresh Water Use
Engines
Twin Merc. 6.2L (MPI)
640 hp (Total)
Raw Water Cooled
V-Drive Transmissions
the Admiral and I stopped by the 'Rusty Rudder' restaurant/bar on LKN last Sunday afternoon.....the waitress told us they are closing for good on October 3rd.....she did not know the reason why.....

I have always enjoyed eating/drinking at the Rudder....it will be missed....

cliff
 
Yes, we heard that last week. We stopped for lunch on Saturday and I picked a T-shirt. I hope another restaurant moves in but I have a bad feeling the owners will develop it into condos.
 
Yeah - read an article last week. The landlord is not renewing their lease, rumor is some sort of commercial development going in - hotel or condos. I don't get over there much, but it's a institution on the lake. $$$ is always the game.
 
Yeah - read an article last week. The landlord is not renewing their lease, rumor is some sort of commercial development going in - hotel or condos. I don't get over there much, but it's a institution on the lake. $$$ is always the game.

I would be surprised if they could shoehorn a hotel in that space. They share parking with Holiday Marina.
 
Yeah, like I said, rumor - maybe the marina is expanding. But you can figure it's something more profitable than rent from a restaurant. Ashame, too much of Lake Norman is already developed, at least a restaurant provides a destination that is not in someones front yard. I can point to dozens of coves that had no development in them when we started going to the lake in 2000, now other than the islands, way north of HWY 150 and the Duke Energy owned land there are not many places.
 
I would be surprised if they could shoehorn a hotel in that space. They share parking with Holiday Marina.
I don't know anything about this place or the area, but in the past few years there has been a move toward building condos adjacent to marinas and then making the marina available only to condo owners or to non-owners at ridiculously high prices.
 
I don't know anything about this place or the area, but in the past few years there has been a move toward building condos adjacent to marinas and then making the marina available only to condo owners or to non-owners at ridiculously high prices.

the restaurant is next to a marina so you may have the right idea......its a nice marina and fairly large for this lake....probably around 200 wet slips and I'm guessing at least that many in dry storage.....no covered slips though....

cliff
 
UPDATE:

Just heard that the restaurant is undergoing renovations and will reopen next Spring...the new restaurant will be more 'up scale'....apparently the 'Rudder' was attracting some 'undesirables' (or as Hillary would call them 'deplorables'....:smt001 ) and the partying into the late night was cause for concern from the surrounding residents.....the new restaurant will be more like the 'North Harbor Club'.......

cliff
 
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That's great news Cliff. Though I will miss all of the undesirable friends I made there.
 
any word on how the renovations to the restaurant are coming along?.....any opening date mentioned?......

cliff
 
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That sounds like a great place to boat to, and with the proven success of the owner I suspect that Hello, Sailor will be a hit also.
 
That sounds like a great place to boat to, and with the proven success of the owner I suspect that Hello, Sailor will be a hit also.

we are fortunate enough to have several waterside restaurants on our lake ranging from burger joints to reasonably upscale....this one should be a nice fit on the lake....in the past there were only a few dock slips available for the restaurant but it sounds like they will secure more slips from the neighboring marina when the new restaurant opens....

cliff
 

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