University Place Is Building Its Weekend Around the Space It Hasn't Built Yet

"We want this to be where people go, 'Where are you going tonight? Well, see you there.' And everybody knows this is 'there.'"

That is how University Place property manager Marni Sawicki described the goal when she spoke with Chapelboro at the September ribbon-cutting for the mall's new entertainment district. It is an ambitious line for a property on S. Estes Drive that most of Chapel Hill knows as a place to park, run an errand and leave. Almost nothing that has opened there since mid-September is about buying more. Each change gives you a reason to stay longer, and the biggest one depends on a stretch of ground where construction has stopped.

Fifteen Months After Bolin Creek Came Through

The current version of University Place starts with July 6, 2025. That day, floodwater from Bolin Creek reached the property and damaged several tenants. Some businesses, including bartaco, CycleBar, Flying Biscuit, Frame & Print Shop, Hawkers and Verizon, reopened soon afterward with little or no damage. Others took longer. Stoney River reopened on Monday, August 11, 2025. Silverspot was closed for seven weeks. It came back with new carpets and a new concessions area, along with upgraded seating, lighting and projectors.

Those dates matter now because the tenants that came back are the ones holding this fall's changes together. All four businesses that can sell a to-go drink under the new district rules reopened after the flood. The bookstore that opened in September moved into a suite the flood helped empty.

The Suite That Became a Bookstore

Barnes & Noble opened on Wednesday, September 23, at 201 S. Estes Dr. #200A. The store covers more than 19,000 square feet in the space Planet Fitness used before it moved to S. Elliott Road after flood damage. Barnes & Noble already runs UNC's Student Stores, but this is its first traditional store inside Chapel Hill town limits and its 11th in North Carolina.

What the store is trying to be matters more than the square footage. Store manager Andrea Wilson told Chapelboro she wants it to serve as a "third place," and she described the knitting groups, Dungeons & Dragons tables and a guitarist's evening set that filled her earlier stores. She also compared it with the two locations Chapel Hill readers already drive to. New Hope Commons is about 10 minutes away and Southpoint about 20. Southpoint is two stories, she said, and the new store is meant to feel "a little bit more intimate and cozy."

Fantasy author Scott Reintgen cut the ribbon. He is a New York Times best-selling writer who earned his English degree at UNC in 2010. The store is open daily from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Those hours cover nearly the whole window when the mall's outdoor drink district is running.

Leaving the Eastern Parcels Open

The second piece is land. University Place has been redeveloping since 2018, adding outward-facing storefronts, freestanding buildings and a green space on what used to be parking lot. The next phase covers the easternmost parcels between the mall building and Fordham Boulevard, and it is temporarily on hold.

Management has chosen to use the pause. The first move was taking down the temporary construction fencing so drivers on the road can see into the open area. Sawicki said picnic tables, horseshoes, bocce, cornhole, shade umbrellas and sails are planned for The Commons, and that the string lights are already up. That stretch is now inside the entertainment district too, which ties the open ground to the restaurants a few steps away.

"I want to emphasize: this is not about drinking. Alcohol is just a part of it. It's a nice way to integrate our tenants into the space." Marni Sawicki, in Chapelboro's coverage of the launch

The Commons also hosts UP L!VE, the mall's Friday-evening music series. The October 16 show featured PushPlay, a four-piece variety and Top 40 band, from 7 to 9 p.m. The listing asks people to bring their own chairs and invites guests 21 and older to carry a drink from Stoney River, Silverspot, bartaco or Hawkers while they listen. Upcoming dates are posted on University Place's events page.

A Drink License Built for Walking Around

UP Social opened on Wednesday, September 16, and the News & Observer called it the first of its kind in Chapel Hill. The details matter, because this is not the same arrangement as the social districts some downtowns now run. A social district is created through local government zoning. University Place holds an entertainment district designation, which the state ABC Commission grants by permit for private property.

Here is how it works in practice:

• Who sells: bartaco, along with its mobile margarita stand, plus Hawkers Asian Street Fare, Stoney River Steakhouse & Grill and Silverspot.
• What you carry: beer, wine or a cocktail in a 16-ounce non-glass UP Social cup, for guests 21 and older. Outside alcohol is not allowed.
• Where it goes: the public gathering spaces on the south and east ends of the property, inside posted boundaries. Signs with a QR code link to a map.
• When: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Each restaurant's own hours may differ.
• Which doors: every storefront shows one of three signs. "Yes. Buy it" means the shop sells district drinks, "Yes. Bring it" means you can walk in with one, and "No. Finish it" means you can't.

The full rules are posted on the UP Social page. Sawicki has helped set up this kind of district before. As mayor of Cape Coral, Florida, she helped start one there, and she told Chapelboro she expects the bigger payoff to come from people staying around the outdoor amenities, with more foot traffic for every tenant, more than from the extra drinks sold. The district's hours line up closely with the bookstore's, and a cup bought at the cinema can travel out to a lawn that would be a construction site if the eastern phase had gone ahead on schedule.

A Saturday That Starts at 8, for Two More Weeks

The oldest piece of this routine has been here all along. The Chapel Hill Farmers' Market sets up outside University Place in front of Stoney River, and it keeps going through the winter. Its timing changes soon, and that shifts the whole morning.

From this Thursday, two 8 a.m. Saturdays are left, October 24 and October 31. The market's posted winter schedule lists only Saturday mornings, and the first 9 a.m. opening falls on November 7. Under either schedule, the market closes at noon. The bookstore opens at 10 and the drink district starts at the same hour, so one Saturday can stretch from produce to coffee and browsing to a late lunch on The Commons without moving the car. The market's site also lists Chapel Hill Transit's F and G routes and the Saturday D and FG routes as ways to get there.

More is coming, though not all of it on a schedule. Postino, a wine bar with a patio and a menu of shareable plates, announced its University Place plans in June. Its spot is Suite 302, and the mall's listing for it still reads "coming soon." In August the News & Observer reported that Bliss Nail Spa was also slated for fall. HomeSense, the TJX home store, is building a 28,000-square-foot space on the north side of the main building next to Barnes & Noble and is aiming for spring 2027.

Changes like these, a bookstore you can walk to or a Saturday market with new hours, shape how a home nearby fits into everyday life. If you'd like to talk through how places like University Place fit with the Chapel Hill streets you're considering, Erika & Co. would be glad to help. Schedule your complimentary market consultation.