A few days after indicating plans to move to a new space in Chapel Hill, the popular restaurant The Purple Bowl has officially announced its future home.
Taylor Gilland, who co-owns the açaí bowl and smoothie shop with his mother Paula Gilland, said the business signed a lease at 505 West Franklin Street on Wednesday night. In a conversation with Chapelboro, he said Purple Bowl will take up the space facing Franklin Street, while also turning the small parking lot at the corner of Graham Street and Franklin Street into a patio area for customers.
505 West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, taken in November 2021. (Photo via Google Maps.)
The announcement comes after months of speculation around the restaurant’s future, as it is one of the businesses currently in 306 West Franklin Street, which was recently acquired for redevelopment by a life sciences real estate company. On Monday, the Gilland family penned a letter to the Chapel Hill Town Council and mayor indicating that a new space had been found for Purple Bowl and it would be moving there in the summer of 2024.
“It’s going to be a lot of effort to move,” said Taylor Gilland. “It’s like starting a new restaurant from scratch. We were debating whether to keep going and do it again, but we’ve been really inspired by all the support we’ve gotten from students, community members, employees and all the rest.”
The 505 West Franklin Street building is perhaps best known for being the former home of the Chapel Hill News paper and, more recently, Top of The Hill’s distillery — which closed operations earlier this year. The space Purple Bowl will be entering, though, is predominantly office space and will require an intensive interior redesign. But Gilland said the business will have more room compared to its 306 West Franklin home (3,500 square feet vs. 2,800 square feet) and the expanded patio space presents an exciting opportunity. He said Purple Bowl plans to add more seating and study space, room for outdoor games, and a performance stage.
An early design of the patio Purple Bowl aims to construct and add to its new space at 505 West Franklin Street. (Photo via The Purple Bowl.)
Gilland said the family was first connected to 505 West Franklin Street through a relationship with a customer, and they first examined the building as a back-up plan for the restaurant several months ago. Purple Bowl’s leadership fought to stay at 306 West Franklin Street after Longfellow Real Estate Partners presented a plan in November 2022 to redevelop the building into a eight-story life sciences center with wet lab space and ground floor retail spots. After initial concept plans received support from much of the town council in March, Gilland said the family largely realized it was time to turn their focus toward decide whether to keep the business open or not.
Gilland said the outpouring of support from Purple Bowl’s customers, the small business community, and town council member Adam Searing — a candidate in Chapel Hill’s mayoral race — helped drive his family to continue operations. He said while the restaurant’s leadership disagrees with Longfellow about the vision for 306 West Franklin Street, the real estate group collaborated with the family to help figure out a plan forward.
Gilland said much of the appeal of 505 West Franklin Street in the next chapter for Purple Bowl comes from investing in the “existing space” to keep the building’s historical feel. He added that his family sees a real opportunity in moving to a part of town that’s gained a lot of momentum for small businesses to thrive.
“If you go walk around downtown Chapel Hill,” said Gilland, “the area that now feels like it has the most funk and soul does seem to be the strip around Franklin and Graham [Streets]. We’re really excited to be part of that. A big reason I think it feels like that is there’s a lot of sunlight — there aren’t a ton of tall buildings blocking the light.
“We’re really excited to be part of that chunk of town,” he concluded, “and we also love Carrboro, so we’re excited to be part of the Carrboro scene.”
Gilland said he hopes his family’s experience in the last year of turbulence for Purple Bowl’s future reflects the importance of staying invested in local politics and town policies — including municipal elections like this year.
Meanwhile, the redevelopment of 306 West Franklin Street is still in some of its earliest stages. Longfellow Real Estate Partners saw its conditional zoning application for the project begin its legislative hearing on Wednesday night’s Chapel Hill Town Council meeting. A pair of community members shared public comment as council members provided additional feedback to the current designs, which are angling to help bring more life science and year-round businesses to downtown. The legislative hearing was continued to November 29, which could be when the town council could vote to approve the project.
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