Local ties: Former Fla. Sticky Fingers to be Poe's

Two restaurant concepts launched in the Charleston region have crossed paths a few hundred miles down the coast.

Poe's Tavern, a Sullivan's Island hot spot know for its burgers and fish tacos, is expanding into the Jacksonville, Fla., market. The local connection: It is taking over the former site of a Sticky Fingers ribs and barbecue emporium that recently went dark in Atlantic Beach.

Charleston-based REV Foods -- REV is short for Revolutionary Eating Ventures -- owns Poe's, along with Taco Boy, Monza and Closed for Business.

The original Poe's opened in 2003. It takes it name from writer Edgar Allen Poe, who was stationed at nearby Fort Moultrie for 13 months while in the Army, according to the restaurant's website. His stint on Sullivan's inspired "The Gold Bug," a short story about a man bitten by a gold-colored beetle.

Sticky Fingers was founded by three Mount Pleasant residents in 1992, including Chad Walldorf, chairman of the state Board of Economic Advisors and former staffer and aide of ex-Gov. Mark Sanford.

The barbecue chain moved its headquarters to Atlanta last fall, according to a report published in a Georgia newspaper.

Sticky Fingers shuttered its Atlantic Beach restaurant this past spring according to news reports. Its website shows one other location in the Jacksonville area and about 16 others in the Southeast.

Bad choices

The untimely and ill-advised $915,000 purchase of a Wild Dunes Resort condominium has come back to bite two former executives of a bankrupt North Carolina workout chain.

Peak Fitness owner Jeffrey Stec and his ex-chief financial officer, Kenneth Hanley, were charged last week by federal authorities who allege they fraudulently obtained loans from Wells Fargo and Wachovia, including money that paid for the condo.

The Charlotte Observer reported the men used $130,000 from a business loan from Wachovia to qualify to purchase a the unit in the Mariners Walk development. Prosecutors say that Hanley moved the money to a personal account and received approval for the $856,000 loan from Wells Fargo. The sale closed in September 2007, just before the start of the Great Recession.

As the economy tanked, Stec and Hanley fell behind on their payments. With property values falling, they also had negative equity in their second-floor unit at 2 Palmetto Drive in the upscale Isle of Palms resort, according to a lawsuit Hanley filed against Stec in July 2009 to sort out what to do with their underwater investment.

Property records show Hanley bought the condo in $857,000 in October 2009, a month before the lawsuit was closed. That didn't work out, either. Hanley sold the property earlier this year for $650,000, or 29 percent less than what he and Stec paid.

Prosecutors say the condo was sold in a "short sale in lieu of foreclosure." Wells Fargo is estimated to be out about $230,000.

Stec and Hanley were charged with commercial loan fraud and money laundering conspiracy for their Wild Dunes doings and other financial transactions, according to court documents filed in North Carolina.

Fair grounds

Anyone seeking employment should check out The Post and Courier's Career Expo this week.

The free job fair is on Tuesday from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The site: the Sheraton Hotel's ballroom at 4770 Goer Drive in North Charleston. About 22 companies, including S.C. Federal Credit Union, Verizon Wireless and H&R Block, will be in attendance. Register online at www.postandcourier.com/careerfair/register.

In the bank

South Carolina is getting ready to help arrange loans for creditworthy small businesses that have been turned down by banks due to strict underwriting policies.

The state Jobs-Economic Development Authority has received the first installment of $18 million in federal funding, which was approved last year. The money will be used to create loan-loss reserve funds as an inducement for banks to make loans to applicants who go through the state's Business Development Corporation.

'I took one look at (the federal program) and said, this is exactly what we do," said Harry Huntley, JEDA's executive director. 'Our mission is job creation and economic development.'

The idea is that companies turned down by banks can apply to BDC for loans up to $5 million. Banks would make the loans, with the federal money bolstering their loan-loss reserves.

"What it will do is encourage banks to make loans that may not meet the tight underwriting guideline they have now, because they will have additional reserves in place," Huntley said.