A fast-food chicken restaurant is reportedly coming to the iconic corner of Franklin and Columbia in downtown Chapel Hill.

Last week, the Triangle Business Journal reported that Raising Cane’s Restaurants LLC has purchased the building that formerly housed Spanky’s Restaurant.

Raising Cane’s is a Louisiana-based chain that specializes in chicken fingers. They have more than 500 locations, including two in North Carolina. If and when a Raising Cane’s comes to Chapel Hill, it will be the company’s first Triangle location. Currently, the closest location is in Greenville.

The building on 101 East Franklin Street was the longtime home of Spanky’s Restaurant, part of the Chapel Hill Restaurant Group. In 2018, CHRG converted Spanky’s into Lula’s, a restaurant that also specialized in fried chicken – but Lula’s closed its doors last year.

Lula’s was not alone in its closure. The corner of Franklin and Columbia is the most prominent intersection in downtown Chapel Hill; however, restaurants there have struggled to stay open, particularly amid the pandemic. MidiCi Italian Kitchen and Lotsa Stone Fired Pizza also closed on that same corner within the last three years. Top of the Hill has bucked the trend, though, remaining highly popular since its opening in 1994 – and another restaurant, Seafood Destiny Express, is opening its doors on the corner this week.

Triangle Business Journal reports the Franklin Street building recently sold for $3.87 million. The building also houses a Starbucks next to the former Lula’s location, but the Starbucks is expected to remain in operation.

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