At University Place, the Unbuilt Lot Is Doing the Work

For a while, the east side of University Place, facing Fordham Boulevard, was a field behind construction fencing. It waited for a redevelopment phase that hasn't started. Now the fencing is gone. From the road you can see into the open ground, and the mall's property manager has a list of plans for it: picnic tables, horseshoes, bocce, cornhole, shade sails and string lights.

That lot matters more than any one new tenant. Ram Realty's next building phase is on hold, so the mall is using the gap to become a place to spend an evening sooner than the full plan would have allowed. This fall's changes at the Estes Drive mall fit around that one decision: a to-go drinks district, a new bookstore and Sunday music.

The fence came down before anything went up

Ram Realty owns University Place. In March 2026, The Daily Tar Heel described the full redevelopment as a $160 million modernization. The plan includes 253 apartments, 60,000 square feet of office space, more than 350,000 square feet of retail and two acres of public green space. Phase 3 covers the easternmost parcels between the mall building and Fordham Boulevard, and it is the part that has been delayed.

In August, 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro reported what the land would hold in the meantime. Marni Sawicki, the general manager with JLL Property Management, said, "We're going to have picnic tables and all kinds of games. We're looking at possibly having a cornhole league." She also said the mall would keep running its own live music and movies in the park, and that it hopes to add fall festival activities. No dates for those have been posted yet.

The first step on the lot was removing the temporary construction fencing so the open area could be seen from the road. The lot works as a gathering space because of the second change this fall.

A drinks permit that stops at the property line

University Place's entertainment district, branded UPSocial, became officially live in September. More than a dozen tenants gathered at The Commons on Sept. 16 for a ribbon cutting backed by the Chamber for a Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro.

It works differently from the social districts some North Carolina downtowns have adopted. An entertainment district runs on permits that the North Carolina ABC Commission issues directly. A social district comes from a local government ordinance. Entertainment districts also stay on a single private property, while social districts can extend across public rights-of-way. Sawicki told 97.9 The Hill that going through the state was faster than waiting for the Town to write and approve its own social district ordinance.

Chapel Hill already has one model for this. Town Economic Development Director David Putnam pointed to the existing entertainment district at Cedar Falls Courtyard, off Weaver Dairy Road, as a blueprint for how it can work.

The working rules, as posted on the UPSocial page:

• Hours: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, whatever an individual restaurant's hours are.
• Where to buy: Stoney River Steakhouse, Silverspot Cinema, bartaco and Hawkers are the participating merchants listed. bartaco also runs a mobile margarita stand.
• The cup: 16 fluid ounces at most, never glass. Every cup carries both the UPSocial logo and the restaurant's logo, plus the line "Drink responsibly. Be 21."
• Limits: Under state law, one guest can be served up to two beer or wine drinks, or one drink containing liquor, at a time. No outside alcohol is allowed.
• Boundaries: Finish or toss your drink before leaving the posted area or walking into a business that doesn't welcome outside cups. Drinks are never allowed in vehicles, and that includes bikes and scooters.

Signs around the property mark the boundary, and a QR code on them pulls up a map. These rules come from the property's own page and are general information, not legal advice. If you have a question about your own situation, check with the venue or the ABC Commission.

Sawicki has said plainly that alcohol is not the main goal. "I want to emphasize: this is not about drinking," she told Chapelboro. "We want this to be where people go, 'Where are you going tonight? Well, see you there.' And everybody knows this is 'there.'"

The walk the district is built around

The district is meant to connect the two ends of the property. In August, Sawicki said the boundary would run from Stoney River on the west to the parcels along Fordham Boulevard on the east. She described the walk this way, stop by stop:

1. Start at Stoney River.
2. Stop at the bar inside Silverspot.
3. Move to bartaco and the pocket park in front of it, where music is planned.
4. Walk past Hawkers.
5. Reach Postino at the far end, with its own outdoor patio once it opens.
6. Cross to Jeni's.
7. Finish in the green space called The Commons.

In September, the mall added the paused Phase 3 land to the district, which puts the picnic tables and lawn games at the eastern end of that loop.

Indoors, the tenants are arriving on a slower clock

The open-air side can change in weeks. The buildings take longer, so here is where each announced arrival stood as of mid-October.

The bookstore fills a space left by a storm. Planet Fitness moved out after Tropical Storm Chantal damaged the building, and Barnes & Noble opened in that suite with a ribbon cutting led by store manager Andrea Wilson and local author Scott Reintgen. If you followed how Eastgate Crossing reopened after the same storm, it's notable that University Place filled its damaged space with a destination store.

Postino matters most to the district. It will be the third North Carolina location for the wine bar, and Chapelboro's October business roundup counted it among the five businesses licensed when the district launched, even though it hasn't opened. Once its patio opens, Sawicki's walk has a destination at the east end.

The smaller spaces are part of the plan too. Speaking to Chapelboro, Putnam called out the studio retail units in the 900 Willow building as a place where local entrepreneurs can test a concept when downtown or Franklin Street rents are out of reach.

Where the calendar picks it up this fall

The mall's own events are where the outdoor space gets tested in person.

University Place's homepage advertises a weekly Chapel Hill Farmers Market. Its October listing was a Tuesday market from 3 to 6 p.m., with vendors from within 60 miles of Chapel Hill. Sunday evenings in October bring live music at UP Social. The next date is Sunday, Oct. 25, with Sam Trebing playing from 7 to 9 p.m. The concert falls inside the district's 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. hours, so you can carry a bartaco or Hawkers drink from the counter out to the music.

Five days later, also on Estes Drive, the Town's Haunted Hill Trunk or Treat comes to Chapel Hill Community Center Park, 120 S. Estes Drive, on Oct. 30. Between them, the two events cover a family's late October without leaving that road. For more on that corner of town, see our Chapel Hill neighborhood page.

When Phase 3 eventually moves forward, the apartments and offices will go up on the lot that currently holds the picnic tables. Until then, the open space facing Fordham Boulevard is part of the drinks district from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.

Changes like these shape how a part of town feels day to day, and at Charles Christiansen, we keep track of them for clients across Chapel Hill. If you own a home near Estes Drive and wonder how its value compares as University Place fills in, start with an instant home valuation and we'll talk through what's changing around you.