Carolina Ale House to open on West Franklin Street in 2015

Chapel Hill sports fans sick of crowded bars on game days can welcome another addition to town later this year with the opening of Carolina Ale House.

The sports bar is set to open in mid-to-late 2015, a few months later than originally predicted.

It will be located at 419 W. Franklin St., in the former Yates Motor Company building.

With more than 20 locations in the Southeast, the Carolina Ale House brand is known for allowing customers to dine while enjoying games — literally surrounded by televisions.

“There will be TVs everywhere you look,” said Mindy Stroupe, spokeswoman for LM Restaurants, the parent company of the Carolina Ale House.

“Carolina Ale House is a sports bar concept with scratch-made food and a family-friendly atmosphere.”

Stroupe said the restaurant doesn’t yet have a set schedule for its opening, and the date was extended because LM Restaurants was focused on launching a new location in downtown Raleigh.

“We just opened this week, so now our focus will go to Chapel Hill and Garner, our next two locations,” she said.

The company has always wanted to invest in Chapel Hill, Stroupe said.

“We’ve just been waiting for the right space,” Stroupe said. “When that lot became available, we jumped on that.”

But competition on Franklin Street can be tough, with other sports bars in close proximity.

Stroupe said she is not worried about it.

“We welcome competition,” she said. “We have a winning concept, so we’re not worried.”

Right across the road sits Carolina Brewery, a restaurant established in Chapel Hill in 1995. Owner and manager Robert Poitras is aware of the incoming business.

“We actually know their corporate team and they’re very nice people,” Poitras said.

But he isn’t sure about their reasons for opening a sports bar on Franklin Street.

“There seems to be an awful lot of restaurants and sports bars coming to Franklin Street,” he said.

“I’m not so sure why they chose Chapel Hill, but they’re nice people and they do a good job running their businesses. We will be good neighbors.”

The Yates Motor Company Building has been abandoned for several years. At one point, the empty building was decorated with public art installations, which passers-by could view.

Bobby Funk, assistant director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, said the building’s owners allowed the partnership to use the space for public art until a new tenant is found.

Funk said he is excited about the addition of a new business on Franklin Street.

“We’re excited to see the building put back to use,” he said.

“We’re thrilled that the owner has moved on that property and brought a new business into it.”

city@dailytarheel.com