The Garrison's opening at the old Shore Club in Tega Cay came in stages. The restaurant has been serving dinner at the Tega Cay Golf Club since earlier this year, with a dedicated pizza program and a chef pulled from Piper Glen and Quail Hollow, as reported by the Tega Cay Sun; its full bar debuted in mid-May. The restaurant's staged opening offers a useful reference point for the next big project, The Grove at Tega Cay, as it takes shape.
What's Already on the Menu at the Old Shore Club
The Garrison's lease on the former Shore Club space began in February 2026, and the team wasted little time building a menu around two of owner Kevin Devanney's Pineville concepts. The pizza program borrows from Margaux's Wine, Pizza and Market, with family-style New York pies in 14- and 16-inch sizes, plus a pizza the team developed specifically for the Tega Cay location. Chef David "Sully" Sullivan, who spent years cooking at Piper Glen and Quail Hollow, runs the rest of the kitchen: burgers, ribs, fish and chips, and a rotating list that carries over favorites from the original Garrison in Pineville. Prices land where you'd expect for a spot attached to a golf club rather than a splurge destination, with most sandwiches under $20 and entrees running $25 to $30.
The design leans into the same look as the Pineville locations, dark wood accents, exposed brick, and playful chandeliers, and the renovation moved the golf pro shop out of its old spot so the bar could open up toward the entrance. Garage doors were added off the bar to connect indoors and out, turning the existing deck into a bigger, more usable space for live music.
The full bar experience, the part locals had been asking about since the wood-fired pizza oven first got teased on Instagram, didn't actually debut until mid-May. That's a three-month gap between the dining room opening and the bar program launching, which helps explain why the opening timeline can be described in more than one way.
It Opened in Three Layers, Not One Day
What makes The Garrison's rollout worth paying attention to is that it never had a single grand-opening moment. The dining room opened first while renovations continued around it, an approach the ownership team committed to from the start rather than closing the space entirely during construction. The full bar followed months later. Even now, recent visitor reviews mention a newly designed bar area still finishing out, meaning the property is still adding pieces to what most residents already think of as a finished restaurant.
That pattern matters for anyone trying to track the next big opening in town. Projects here can open in stages, with each milestone adding to the picture of what is ready and what remains underway.
Two Dates for the Fall Calendar
The restaurant opened in stages, while the city's fall calendar lists two upcoming events. Catawba Fest returns to Catawba Park on Saturday, September 26, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., marking the fifth year the city has run it. This year's version leans into holiday shopping earlier than past editions, with vendors bringing candles, clothing, handmade jewelry, wood art, and home decor rather than summer craft staples. The Children's Entrepreneur Market returns for its third year, giving kids from around the region a chance to run actual pop-up businesses in a farmer's-market format.
The music lineup is locked in down to the quarter hour. Gold Hill Middle School Band, under director Jennifer Isenhour, opens at 10 a.m. Students from Encore Music Studios take over at 11. School of Rock Fort Mill performs at 2:15, with a shot at a slot in next year's Best Dam Food Festival. Mix Tape Entertainment runs karaoke during the 1:15 changeover, and the Diamond Dixie Band headlines through the evening close, returning after their set at last year's Uncle Sam Jam.
October brings Spooktacular Week, the city's other fixed point on the fall calendar. The centerpiece is Pumpkin Palooza at the Tega Cay sign near Memorial Gardens, where Parks and Recreation staff light residents' carved jack-o-lanterns by hand each night from October 27 through Halloween. Trunk or Treat follows at the Glennon Center parking lot, with the Lions Club running its annual costume contest across categories like Best Baby and Scariest. Parks and Recreation Director Dustin Overton described the week as one that "offers something special for everyone," and unlike the restaurant timeline, nothing about that schedule requires an asterisk.
The Next Layered Opening: The Grove at Tega Cay
If The Garrison is any guide, residents should expect a similarly slow-motion rollout from The Grove at Tega Cay, the 55-acre mixed-use project going in along Stonecrest Boulevard. Developers broke ground on October 1, 2025, and the city's own planning materials identify the western portion, closest to Stonecrest, as the first phase to open. That piece includes a beer garden with an entertainment component and a large outdoor space bordering an existing stream, with the city targeting an opening by the end of 2026.
Given how The Garrison actually unfolded, that end-of-year target is more likely to describe a soft launch than a single ribbon-cutting. The full development, which will eventually include over 100,000 square feet of commercial space, 225 apartments, and 150 homes and townhomes, is a multi-year build regardless of which piece opens first. For The Grove, the first phase's opening will be only one milestone in a much larger build.
What This Actually Means for Your Fall
None of this changes what you can put on your calendar with confidence. Catawba Fest has a date, a printed lineup, and five years of precedent. Spooktacular Week runs on the same schedule it always has. Those are the two fixed points worth building your fall around.
The Garrison, meanwhile, is a reminder that projects can reach opening milestones at different times. The Grove is worth watching with that in mind rather than waiting for a single moment when it's "finally open." The beer garden target is still months out from any confirmed date, and if the last comparable project in this city is any indication, that date will likely mark the start of something rather than the finish.
If you're weighing what a home near either corner of town, Molokai Drive or the Stonecrest side, might mean for your own day-to-day as these projects continue to take shape, Michele Branning has been tracking Tega Cay's growth closely enough to talk through what's actually changing and what's still just plans on paper. Request Your Free Home Valuation to start that conversation.
