To most current students, the empty movie theater building across the street from Patterson Hall and Ricks Hall has always been vacant, donning an old, marquee awning. A few years back, it was Neebo, a resale textbook store and has also housed McDonald’s. Now, it is currently under construction to accommodate a new restaurant set to open in the first half of 2016.
It will be significant addition to Hillsborough Street, as it will be a sit-down type restaurant instead of another fast-casual dining restaurant. The restaurant, still unnamed, will seat 240 and offer American cuisine, ranging from $8 – $18 for entrees.
The old Varsity Theater has been vacant for a couple of years now. And though the property owner had a number of inquiries about the space, they didn’t have any conceptual ideas that they felt would be successful.
“The property owner, Michael Sandman, and I knew each other for a number of years and we got together and started chatting about opportunities for the space,” said Gary Bryant, a 1984 NC State alumnus who founded the Bear Rock Cafe, a sandwich shop, in 1997 and the restaurant’s executive.
“There was a survey done by about 1,500 students last year in 2014 by Live It Up! Hillsborough Street and the results showed that the students thought what Hillsborough Street needed was a quality full-service restaurant,” Bryant said. “There’s a lot of fast casual establishments that do very well; there’s a lot of smaller concepts that do pretty well so this is an opportunity to kind of create something that needed to be done.”
Jeff Murison, executive director of Live It Up! Hillsborough Street, said the businesses work together to attract customers.
“One of the interests was to diversify the business mix on the street so it’s a well-balanced blend of establishments that play off each other,” Murison said. “The new restaurant opening at the old Varsity Theater will add to that blend of vibrant, high-energy food and bar venue that you would expect at a university.”
In addition to the renovation of the former theater, Live It Up! Hillsborough Street also has six to eight projects that have either started or are already underway with four to six more starting next year. One of the projects completed this year was Gonza Tacos y Tequila, a casual dining restaurant connected to the Aloft Hotel that opened in late October.
“I think that the new restaurant will just continue the more casual and fine dining establishments,” Murison said. “The majority of the restaurant hospitality tends to cluster around each other and play off each other, which allows people to come back again and again.”
The interior of the space has been gutted out and will undergo renovations to accommodate a kitchen and dining area. According to architectural plans and sketches, the old marquee awning will remain and be incorporated into the design of the new restaurant.
There will also be valet parking available to customers as well as the street parking and campus parking lots, which are free after 5 p.m. on weekdays and free on weekends.
“I don’t feel like I’ve ever left [NC State]; I’m still a season ticket holder for games and my daughter just went to undergrad at state and got her masters in accounting there,” Bryant said. “However, it is exciting and fun to have the opportunity to work on something that is close to my heart and that it’d be fun for existing alumni and students and future graduating students.”
