Greenville dining group celebrates 17 years by opening another restaurant.

• Position: Greenville, South Carolina

After 17 years of building a restaurant empire in Greenville, the Rick Erwin Dining Group celebrated the opening of its eighth restaurant, The Vista, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday.

The casual dining neighborhood restaurant, which is named after Greenville's historic Alta Vista neighborhood, is located at 2017 Augusta St. and is a unique concept compared to the other Rick Erwin locations from the interior and exterior to the menu. It opened three weeks ago after only a few weeks of construction.

"It was already a beautiful restaurant," said Michael Ivey, partner in Rick Erwin Dining Group.

Rick Erwin, namesake of the group said, "We are always trying to grow our restaurants. We don't have a number in mind we are trying to achieve, but what we are trying to achieve is surrounding ourselves with great talent and providing a high-end product at the end of the day. We have a good reputation in the community to be able to provide that experience. This is the ultimate neighborhood restaurant. After three weeks, and the feedback we have received from customers, it's off to a tremendous start."

They love the opportunity to design new restaurants, said Ivey, but this one was a little different and special because it represents the neighborhood Erwin and Ivey both reside in.

"It's a fun experience," he said. "We both live in this neighborhood, and we knew coming into it we would know a lot of the people coming in to dine with us, like a true neighborhood establishment."

Although this is the eighth Rick Erwin restaurant to open in Greenville, only five are currently operating. Saltwater Kitchen at Haywood Mall closed earlier this month, and after 12 years of operation, Rick Erwin's Nantucket Seafood is relocating from its Main@Broad location since February. Rick Erwin's first...