The last vacant corner in the heart of downtown Chapel Hill will welcome back customers this fall after two years without a tenant. is hiring employees and removing the existing kitchen equipment from the 2,336-square-foot space at 100 W. Franklin St.
A town permit noted the new space will include a central counter with multiple blenders and nearly 80 seats for relaxing and people-watching. It’s a welcome sight for East Franklin Street patrons, who watched the number of vacant storefronts grow to at least a dozen in the past two years, including all three ground-floor spaces at the Franklin-Columbia intersection. The first to go was Midici pizza in 2019, followed by Lula’s in 2020 and Seafood Destiny in 2022, just six months after opening.
Seafood Destiny owner Anthony Knotts is still facing two felony worthless check charges in Guilford County and has been ordered by courts in other cases to pay nearly $34,000 to three food vendors, plus over $16,000 to a Florida debt collection agency. Raising Cane’s brought a pop of activity to the business district when it opened in November 2023, but in January, longtime watering hole , further adding to the sense that downtown Chapel Hill was languishing. The bar’s namesake, Linda Williams, and her daughter Kim Scott, who own the building, did not return The News & Observer’s calls this week seeking comment about their plans for the still-vacant space.
Jeri Lynn Schulke, executive director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, said her unofficial survey of 321 downtown commercial spaces this spring found that roughly 24% were vacant. Of those, Schulke estimated restaurants were seeing an 18% vacancy rate, retail was seeing a 7% rate, and bars and entertainment venues were seeing a 6% rate. Over half of the office spaces counted were available, she said, noting in her email that CHDP plans a future comprehensive survey.
While some vacant spaces remain, including the former Trolley Stop at 104 W. Franklin St. and the former Library nightclub space at 120 E.
Franklin St., others are starting to fill up as UNC-Chapel Hill students return to campus. Pulp Juice will be “Blending Soon,” according to banners in the windows.
The company did not return an N&O email seeking details. Businesses open & coming soon : The 147 E. Franklin St.
restaurant opened July 31 and is the company’s first brick-and-mortar location in North Carolina. The Alabama-based company specializes in wings with a variety of sauces. It’s open from 11 a.
m. to 9 p.m.
this week. Regular hours will be from 11 a.m.
to 11 p.m. starting the week of Aug.
12. : The Seattle coffee company moved into a larger space on the ground floor of 100 E. Franklin St.
this summer. Its previous location, across the street at 103 E. Franklin St.
, is now vacant, but at 101 E. Franklin St. owns the building and already occupies most of the space.
The company isn’t talking, but an employee told The N&O that the chicken finger restaurant could expand. will open soon at 104 E. Franklin St.
, offering bowls, smoothies, juices and cold brews inspired by coastal destinations. The 1,320-square-foot store will be the first in North Carolina for the Chapel Hill franchise owners, said Dave Eynon. It will be open from 8 a.
m. to 8 p.m.
and seat 20 customers. moved in May from the Franklin Centre, which could be demolished as part of redevelopment project, to 118 E. Franklin St.
The new space — formerly Asia Cafe — is also owned by UNC’s real estate investment arm, Chapel Hill Foundation Real Estate Holdings Inc. Under construction : Work is underway on a second location for the UNC sportswear and gear store, which opened in 1969 at 155 E. Franklin St.
The store could expand later this year into a much larger space next to Sutton’s Drug Store at 161 E. Franklin St. : Camila Gama Marrache will bring beauty and art to downtown in September when a new barber and tattoo shop is slated to open at 149 E.
Franklin St. Beauty Art Studio, formerly located in Apex, is now hiring licensed barbers and tattoo artists. Business hours will be 11 a.
m. to 8 p.m.
: Chef Brandon Sharp and his wife, Chapel Hill Council member Elizabeth Sharp, are transforming the former Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe at 173 E. Franklin St. into a Spanish-inspired tapas and wine bar.
Construction and hiring are underway for the roughly 40-seat restaurant. The Sharps also operate Hawthorne & Wood at East 54 and Bluebird cafe at Meadowmont in Chapel Hill. is poised to open a 2,732-square-foot store featuring official Tar Heel merchandise at 122 E.
Franklin St., just a few doors down from the popular Johnny T-shirt store at 128 E. Franklin St.
Dyehard, a Winston-Salem-based retail and marketing company, works with a variety of sports and entertainment organizations and events. In 2018, it became an for the UNC Tar Heels varsity teams and could open by early October, said Brad Baker, Dyehard’s director of operations. A grand opening event has not yet been scheduled.
started work in April to renovate the former Basecamp Chapel Hill restaurant space at 105 E. Franklin St. for a new fine dining experience focused on northern Indian flavors.
No word yet on when the restaurant could open. will launch its breakfast and lunch menu later this month at the Village Plaza shopping center on South Elliott Road. The 111 S.
Elliott Road cafe offers “clean, healthier ingredients and everything made from scratch in-house,” said Ben Powell, who opened the first of eight locations in Wilmington with his partner and brother Michael Powell. The small-batch roasted brews will be sourced from Black & White Coffee Roasters in Raleigh. Hours will be 7 a.
m. to 5 p.m.
daily. , one of Chapel Hill’s oldest jewelers, opened a new location in June at 710 Market St. in Southern Village.
It replaces the former , which closed April 27 after owner Bob Gunn was evicted. Friends raised over $11,400 through and his rescue dogs. Also coming to Southern Village: , opening this fall, and , a Mexican restaurant that could open Oct.
1 at 300 Market St. Durham-based is waiting for construction to start on its new neighborhood taproom and growler filling station, also at 300 Market St..
