Purple Bowl restaurant to fill vacant spot on West Franklin St. Here’s what we know.
Fans of acai bowls and smoothies in downtown Chapel Hill will get to keep hanging out with friends, listening to music or just people watching when the Purple Bowl restaurant reopens in its new digs next year.
Taylor Gilland, who owns the restaurant with his mother Paula Gilland, told The News & Observer on Thursday that the business will relocate to 505 W. Franklin St. by August 2024. The move was precipitated by plans to replace the Purple Bowl’s current location with a 165-foot-tall wet lab and office building.
“We’re really exited about it. We signed the lease last night. It’s what we want: It’s a historical building, it’s an older building that’s been vacant for a while, and so we’re going to transform it from vacant office space into retail space for our cafe,” Gilland said.
The building at 505 W. Franklin St. previously housed the Chapel Hill News and TOPO distillery, along with other tenants. It was sold to Northpond Partners in 2021, and the building’s former owner Scott Maitland closed his distillery earlier this year.
The Gillands will spend the next nine months creating a light, airy space and replacing the parking lot on West Franklin Street with an outdoor space over three times bigger than their current patio, with room for a separate order window, a stage for live music, a shuffleboard court and a big television.
Inside, Purple Bowl will have room to grow, adding an expansive kitchen, a separate coffee bar, and spaces for students to gather.
“I think it’s going to be a really cool space, and a really fun little project,” Gilland said.
The new restaurant will be 3,500 square feet, up from 2,800 square feet in their current location, Gilland said. The Thrive co-working space is coming to a 20,000-square-foot space in the back of the building, and Well Dot Inc., a high-tech healthcare solutions company, is expanding next door at 501 and 503 W. Franklin St.
Well Dot opened its first Chapel Hill office in 2019 at 419 W. Franklin St. and signed a 10-year lease for the new buildings in 2022 with an option to buy them from Orange County.
The addition of Purple Bowl will add to the funky vibe that has enveloped the west end of West Franklin Street in the past few years, from the Beer Study, Local 506 and Al’s Burger Shack to Lapin Bleu, The Baxter Arcade and Brandwein’s Bagels. Med Deli chef Edgar Ordoñez will also open El Fogon, an upscale taco place with Mexican and possibly Salvadoran dishes at 111 N. Roberson St. next year.
Gilland declined to comment on their agreement with Longfellow Real Estate Partners, which outbid the Gillands to buy the building at 306 W. Franklin St.
“It was a difficult situation,” he said. “Obviously, we wanted to stay in our existing space, and considering how difficult the situation is, I think Longfellow was good to work with and tried to work collaboratively with our family to come to a decent solution here.”
However, they are frustrated with the town’s leadership, Gilland said. He and his mother urged the council in an email Monday to do more to protect Chapel Hill’s “charming, authentic downtown” and “support local small businesses that will help Chapel Hill retain its local flavor instead of encouraging development that causes hardship for the local small businesses we do have.”
“I think (the town) is encouraged to bend over backwards ... just for development in general of downtown Chapel Hill, and I think at the harm of small businesses,” Gilland said Thursday.
Buoyed by the support they’ve received, their attention now is on getting “this new space rocking and rolling,” he added.
“I’m really happy to put our energy into something positive because all the fighting and arguing gets you in a bad mood,” Gilland said.
