Chapel Hill Ramshead Rathskeller sees construction delay

_CLARIFICATION: The original version of this story reported that Diane Fountain has headed past unsuccessful business ventures. Fountain said her five previous ventures, which were dissolved
by the N.C. Secretary of State, were in the television industry and that she voluntarily exited them. She said she intentionally allowed the businesses to expire. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for any confusion._

Renovations on the Ramshead Rathskeller restarted last month after the restaurant’s August opening date was delayed.

And although it could still take up to six months to re-open the restaurant, Jim Lilley, a realtor volunteering with the renovations, said it will be worth the wait.

The restaurant, often called “The Rat,” will revive a Chapel Hill tradition, Lilley said. First opened on Amber Alley below Franklin Street in 1948, the restaurant closed in 2008 after its previous owners failed to pay taxes.

The re-opening date — originally set for the end of 2010, then pushed back to August — has been delayed again because the new owner Diane Fountain has had trouble finding investors, Lilley said.

Fountain, who has headed unsuccessful business ventures in the past, said renovations were delayed because she wanted to personally re-calculate costs, originally estimated by contractors.

“The amount that the contractors were saying was so outrageously high that the investors wanted me to find out what the real numbers are,” Fountain said. “That was the hold-up. We needed real numbers.”

Fountain said she now has a better piece-by-piece cost breakdown and is moving forward.

Lilley said demolition began in July, and he and Fountain have hired workers to remove the restaurant’s outdated wiring.

He said workers will soon begin to install plumbing and kitchen equipment.

But both Fountain and Lilley said they are still uncertain of an exact timeline.

“The problem is we don’t know,” Lilley said. “I can’t really say. We’ll know when we get further along.”

While most of the original rooms will remain the same, former patrons will notice two major changes, he said.

The room, which was formerly a barbershop and later a kitchen prep area, will feature acid-washed bricks and will have an added entrance to Amber Alley.

Fountain said she will also launch a website to reach out to alumni and potential investors.

The website will offer different levels of Rat memberships with benefits like discount cards and T-shirts.

“Everybody’s going to own a piece of the Rat,” she said.

Fountain said she has already received numerous responses from former Rat patrons and employees eager to help.

“I always get tons of calls from people, even in Switzerland, who ate at the Rat,” she said.

Lilley, who worked at The Rat while attending UNC in the ‘60s and managed it in 1977, said he hopes to restore The Rat’s popularity among students.

“Anybody who’s ever been here, they can tell you stories about it,” he said.

“We want the students to be part of the history of it too.”