This project was designed to replace a 50 year old restaurant structure located on Lake Wylie that had become structurally obsolete due to old age and a recent interior fire. The original restaurant structure was constructed in the 1950's and operated as Joyner's Restaurant by two generations of the Joyner family from the 50's until the mid 80's and was a hallmark for the Charlotte area during this time.

The Joyner family had leased the building to various restaurant operators since the mid 80's while the state Department of Transportation was completing plans for the new Buster Boyd Bridge for a widened Hwy 49. Future plans for the restaurant site had to be put on hold for some ten years until the bridge design and the widening of Hyw 49 were completed.

Beginning in the first part of this year the Joyner family began working with Clary Architects, Inc. to design and restore the restaurant site and building for the next fifty years. Particular effort was required to architecturally accommodate this unique water front commercial site. The intent was to architecturalIy upgrade the quality of the building's design to current standards required by the leading national restaurants as prospective tenants. This unique site is one of only a handful that can accommodate a restaurant with direct traffic access and visibility on a major thoroughfare with waterfront on the main channel.

Clary Architects took this opportunity to upgrade the quality of design and materials beyond the typical quaint wood sided building of years past. The use of premium face brick, cast stone column bases and trim members, sloping curtain wall and standing seam metal roofing established a unique quality within the area and set the pattern for a fine restaurant.

Features of the facility included decks at the river's edge for outdoor dining, exposed wood trusses overhead with paddle fans, contemporary design with "old world" brick exterior and full glass exposure on the river side for views of the river.

Size: 4,120 square feet.

Estimated construction cost: $500,000