The developer of the restaurants at Port City Marina on downtown Wilmington's northern riverfront owes the project's contractor nearly $860,000, according to New Hanover County Superior Court documents.

After a legal dispute that lasted more than a year between Northern Riverfront Marina & Hotel and Clancy & Theys Construction Co. over the two-restaurant complex on Harnett Street, Superior Court Judge R. Kent Harrell signed a judgment in May that would require the development firm to pay nearly $800,000 plus interest to Clancy & Theys. As of July 23, the interest amount was more than $62,000.

Northern Riverfront Marina & Hotel also owes court costs of more than $71,000, court documents show. 

To satisfy the debt, Clancy & Theys is entitled to enforce its March 2017 lien against the restaurants, the court documents state, which could result in a sale of the buildings. As of Tuesday morning, the contractor had not done so, nor had Northern Riverfront Marina & Hotel LLLP or its manager, Chuck Schoninger, paid the outstanding debt, according to court documents.

"We're working with them on a final resolution," Schoninger said Monday morning, of his attorneys and those of Clancy & Theys.

Efforts to reach a Clancy & Theys representative who would comment on the dispute were not immediately successful. The case stemmed from the contract that Clancy & Theys entered into with the developer to build the restaurants in November 2015. Clancy & Theys is headquartered in Raleigh but has an office in Wilmington that has been especially active in recent years along the northern Cape Fear River riverfront in downtown Wilmington.

Clancy & Theys sued Northern Riverfront Marina & Hotel in February last year, claiming that the company had not been paid for work performed on what were to be Blackfinn Ameripub and Vida Mexican Kitchen y Cantina, originally announced in 2012. Schoninger denied some of the Clancy & Theys claims in an answer and counterclaim in May last year before the judgment a year later. 

Blackfinn opened in May 2017, but Schoninger announced at the end of last year that the restaurant was closing, while Vida never opened. USA Investco also announced that it had ended its partnership with Blackfinn and Vida. Instead, Schoninger's company USA Investco LLC opened Marina Grill, which is still open, in the Blackfinn space, with plans to open a restaurant called Marker 14 in the Vida space.

But the restaurant announcements and closure of Blackfinn weren't the end of the story. A different legal dispute between the Blackfinn and Vida companies and Schoninger and his companies is currently pending in North Carolina Business Court, the court's website shows.

Meanwhile, on July 23, writs of execution were filed in the Clancy & Theys case in New Hanover County Superior Court stating that Northern Riverfront Marina & Hotel owes nearly $800,000 for the principal amount, more than $62,000 in interest and more than $71,000 in court costs.