The concept plans outline the transformation of 157 E. Rosemary St., a building that currently houses Bub O’Malley’s, Country Fried Duck and the new Zell’s Underground Daiquiri Bar into a six-story mixed-use building that will combine retail space and condos, said James Paliouras, whose company, Paliouras Enterprises LLC, owns the building.
“There’s a lot of growth on Rosemary Street on the west end of town, and we have a terrific location and are close to the campus,” Paliouras said.
“We want to see what the town council does, if they are indeed serious about improving Rosemary Street.”
Paliouras said the idea to redesign the building began more than a year ago.
“The town wanted a rehabilitated and improved Rosemary Street, so we thought we’d take an old building, which we built in 1957, and do something else on the property,” he said.
The concept plans were submitted to the city planning department and were taken to the planning board, where recommendations were made, Paliouras said. Now, the concept plans will be heard by the town council.
Chapel Hill Town Council member Michael Parker said the council will listen to the developer and make recommendations on Monday, but no decisions will be made until a formal application is submitted.
“(The developer) will listen to the comments, they will do what they wish and then they can choose to proceed with the project and file a formal application or they can decide to make more changes and then come back with a revised concept plan; it’s really up to them at that point,” Parker said.
