"You just showed up there. … It almost didn't matter if your friends were there."
Jeff Mickel was talking about his early-2000s days at Flying Saucer when he gave that quote to Raleigh Magazine, and he was explaining why he built his new bar the way he did. Low Bar opened Oct. 15. In the two weeks before that, a rooftop lounge opened in the round tower on Hillsborough Street, an Italian market opened on North Person Street, and a 14-year-old Laotian restaurant on Blount Street got new owners. Nothing on that list is a new building. Each one moved into a downtown room with history, and each new operator built the room's past into the place.
Twenty floors up, in the tower everyone already knows
The round building at 320 Hillsborough St. went up in 1969 as a Holiday Inn. It later ran as a Clarion and then went back to the Holiday Inn name. The building now carries historic landmark designation, and it reopened as the 204-room Hotel Indigo Raleigh, which announced on Oct. 1, 2026 that it was open after a $36 million renovation.
The curved outline stayed. The New York firm Inc. designed the interiors around it, with warm oak finishes that the hotel says reference Raleigh's "City of Oaks" nickname, plus cork and a collection of work by North Carolina artists chosen by nineDOTarts.
For downtown residents, the part that matters is the top floor. High Ground Lounge is on the 20th floor. It serves Southern-inspired food alongside craft cocktails, and the windows look out over the skyline. According to IHG's dining page, dinner runs 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Breakfast is served daily from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. The dress code listed there is business casual or casual.
The ground floor was also rebuilt with neighbors in mind. Selective demolition turned a set of broken-up rooms into one large lounge. A vintage Airstream coffee bar now sits in the courtyard between check-in and Hillsborough Street, and the hotel describes it as open to downtown workers and residents as well as guests. General manager Carlos Faz said in the release that the goal is for locals to "meet for coffee, enjoy dinner and cocktails at High Ground, or celebrate life's important moments."
The 20th-floor bar is getting the attention, but the coffee window may change more of downtown's daily routine. It adds a morning stop at the west end of Hillsborough Street, inside a building most people in Raleigh have driven past for decades.
One floor down, in a basement that used to house limousines
Six blocks away and one floor below the sidewalk, Low Bar Lounge opened Oct. 15 at 201 W. Martin St. It took over the former IMURJ space under Whiskey Kitchen. The Downtown Raleigh Alliance lists it in the Fayetteville Street district as an underground cocktail lounge.
Whiskey Kitchen co-owners Jeff Mickel and Michael Thor built a room that leans on the building's history. The front end of an '80s Lincoln limo is mounted on the wall. Raleigh Magazine reports that it's a nod to the limo company that once operated out of the building. Mickel explained the choice of car to the magazine:
"Lincolns were for partying."
The magazine laid out the rest of the concept. Low Bar is meant to be a neighborhood bar. It isn't positioned as a speakeasy, a dive or a sports bar, and you don't need a password, a reservation or a key to get in. The room has exposed brick, mismatched furniture, tufted banquettes and a free push-quarter pool table. All the seating is bar height, which Mickel told the magazine was chosen "so people can walk around and talk to each other at eye level." Designer Antoine Ponton, whose past work includes the original High Horse, worked with the owners on the space. Raleigh Magazine compared the feel to the old Father & Sons on Hargett.
On the drinks side, Raleigh Magazine describes spirit-forward cocktails with a slight tiki lean and a bigger focus on THC beverages than most bars carry. The Low Bar site lists cold beer, THC seltzers, cocktails, wine and snacks.
Put the two openings side by side and the pattern holds. One is at the top of a 1969 hotel tower and the other is in a basement that once served a limo business. Both operators kept the old shell and designed the inside around what the building used to be.
The same pattern, at street level
Downtown's daytime openings follow the same pattern.
Gallicchio's Market & Eatery opened Thursday, Oct. 8, at 702 N. Person St. in the former (ish) Delicatessen space on the edge of Oakwood, according to The Raleigh Local. Chef-owner Stacy Gallicchio Murphy is known around town for the Pounded Pig food truck. WRAL notes that her background includes New Orleans kitchens and the Italian markets she grew up around in the Northeast. So a corner that was a deli is a deli again, this time built around Italian-American market traditions.
The market side sells house-made pastas, sauces, lasagna, antipasti and prepared take-home meals. The counter serves sandwiches, salads and pasta. The Raleigh Local mentions a roasted pork and broccoli rabe sandwich at $16, a muffuletta and a meatball sub. Later in the day the menu adds about a dozen wines and European beers, and the room seats about 30. The same report said hours were still settling, so check Gallicchio's social channels before you go.
Downtown's longest-running story this fall involves an owner change and no new opening. Anna and Chuan Tsay of Heirloom Brewshop announced that they have acquired Bida Manda, the Laotian restaurant and bar at 222 S. Blount St. As WRAL reported, they thanked founder Vanvisa Nolintha for 14 years of the restaurant. They plan to keep it running as it is and to learn from the current team, "without disturbing the things people have grown to love." If you're a Bida Manda regular, that means the same restaurant under new owners.
Where downtown's calendar goes in November
November's events also land in familiar places. Two big food nights are booked at Raleigh Iron Works, and the month ends at Dix Park.
- Friday, Nov. 6: Botiwalla's Diwali Party at Raleigh Iron Works. The event listing promises a Bollywood DJ, special menu items and free henna.
- Saturday, Nov. 7: Rawleigh Oyster Fest, "Smoke & Shuck," at Raleigh Iron Works. Earp's Seafood Market presents this third edition, which adds North Carolina pitmasters to the chef-and-oyster-farm pairings for the first time. WRAL reports that the first festival in November 2025 sold all 550 tickets and the spring 2026 edition sold out in five days. Together, the two raised about $12,500 for the Frankie Lemmon School and Development Center and the N.C. Coastal Federation. Given how fast the spring tickets went, buy early.
- Thursday, Nov. 26: the Trophy Trot 5K at Dorothea Dix Park. The Thanksgiving morning race hosted by nOG Run Club and Trophy Brewing Co. is in its 10th year and benefits Healing Transitions. WRAL reports that in 2025 nearly 3,000 runners and walkers signed up and the race gave about $60,000, up from $42,000 the year before.
Here's one way to spend a full November evening downtown with this fall's additions. Start with coffee at the Airstream on Hillsborough Street, have dinner on the 20th floor of the round tower, then walk to Martin Street for a game of pool under Whiskey Kitchen. All three stops are in buildings downtown has had for years, with new owners running them.
Courtney and the team at Whalen & Co. keep track of which downtown corners are changing hands, because those changes shape what it's like to live nearby. If you're wondering how this fall's openings near your street might affect your home's value, we'd be glad to talk it through. Request Your Home Valuation.
