Downtown Cary's 2026 Openings Followed the Parking Decks

Downtown Cary's biggest change this year came in March and April, when two parking decks opened. The restaurant openings came after. The Cedar Street deck opened to the public on March 18 with 296 free public spaces. The Academy Street deck followed on April 11, with 225 of its 467 spaces set aside as free public parking and the upper levels reserved for residents and guests.

Over the next five months, a new restaurant, a taco spot, a wine bar and two independent bookshops opened within a few blocks of those decks. When Lloyd's Full Service announced its August opening, it pointed to the two decks and their more than 500 spaces within two blocks of its front door, as FSR Magazine reported. Downtown Cary now works as a place you park for once and then walk all evening.

Eight months on one small map

Here is the order things happened in, starting with the first opening of the year.

Every address in that table sits on East Chatham Street, South Academy Street, or one of the short streets between them. The Cedar deck is a block north of Chatham, and the Academy deck is a short walk south of the Chatham and Academy corner. Park in either one and nothing on this list is far away.

Vino & Tap's timeline shows how this year has gone. Cary Magazine says the wine bar has been open since April, while the business itself held a formal ribbon cutting and grand opening on July 10. Several spots opened quietly and celebrated later, so some people walking by may not know they are open yet.

The corner that holds it together

The busiest corner on that map is Chatham and Academy. Lloyd's Full Service opened there on August 26, in a 1950s service station that K.M. Lloyd opened as a filling station in 1951. An early ad called it "the cheerful looking place on the corner," and the restaurant has taken that phrase on as its own.

The team behind it is Early Bird Night Owl, which runs The Mayton boutique hotel in Cary and The Durham in Durham. Lloyd's is the company's first standalone restaurant. Executive chef Dennis Bernard spent roughly 15 years, on and off, in kitchens tied to Chicago's One Off Hospitality, including Blackbird, The Publican and Dove's Luncheonette, where he was chef de cuisine.

The renovation kept much of the old station front. It added a 2,300-square-foot addition for the kitchen and restrooms, plus a 1,200-square-foot canopy over a covered three-season patio. Lloyd's seats about 75 people inside and up to 100 outside. A vintage DIVCO delivery van parked on the patio works as a small bar and café. In October, that canopy matters, because the patio stays usable after a cool afternoon turns into a cooler evening.

Hours to plan around. Lloyd's current posted schedule:

• Wednesday through Friday, 4 to 9 p.m.
• Saturday, lunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner 5 to 9 p.m.
• Sunday, lunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner 5 to 8 p.m.
• Closed Monday and Tuesday

The restaurant has talked about adding weekday lunch, weekend brunch and longer dinner hours, but the posted schedule doesn't include any of those yet. On weekends, the break between 3 and 5 p.m. is a good time to walk over to the bookshops. Reservations are limited and only for groups of six or fewer. Walk-ins can sit at the bar or on the patio.

This corner was also home to Ashworth Drugs, the pharmacy and soda fountain that closed in 2024 after 67 years. What happens to that building is the biggest open question on the block, and it's covered below.

East along Chatham

Walk east from Lloyd's and the openings come one after another. K38 Baja Grill opened at 147 E. Chatham St. in late August. It's the brand's seventh location and its second in the Triangle, after Seaboard Station in downtown Raleigh. The name refers to kilometer 38 on Baja's coastal highway, a surf break that inspired founder Josh Vach to open the first location in 1993.

A little farther along, The Arcane Books and Speakeasy has moved into the Williams House at 210 E. Chatham St., and its Williams House Bookshop opened July 15. The Refreshery at 253 E. Chatham St. opened on January 9, two months before either deck, so it's the oldest stop on this route.

Past the downtown core, Doherty's Irish Pub & Restaurant has leased the former Spirits Pub & Grub at 701 E. Chatham St. The space has a patio with more than 100 seats, and it will be Doherty's fifth location, after Cary, Apex, Holly Springs and Pittsboro. No opening date has been announced. At that address, most people will drive rather than walk from the decks.

South toward the park

The other half of the map runs down Academy Street toward Downtown Cary Park. Vino & Tap is at 307 S. Academy St., a short walk past the Academy Street deck at 206 S. Academy. Juliet Books & Beautiful Things opened at 200 Parkthrough St. on July 28. With The Arcane on Chatham, downtown now has two independent bookshops that both opened in the same July.

This is where the decks pay off for the fall calendar. Downtown Cary Park events draw more people than street parking can handle. With 521 free public spaces between the two decks, you can go to an event and still have time to eat nearby without moving your car.

An October evening, parked once

The Town's calendar has a run of downtown events through the end of the month. Here's how a few of them line up with the new spots.

1. Friday, October 16. Cary Night Market returns to Downtown Cary Park from 5 to 9 p.m., with local makers, music, food and drinks. Lloyd's opens at 4 p.m. on Fridays, so there's time for an early bite on the patio before you walk south.
2. Friday, October 23. Zombiepalooza is on the downtown park calendar. K38 is a block east of the Chatham and Academy corner if you're feeding a group.
3. Saturday, October 24. Downtown Scary Park: Haunted Hotel follows the next day. On Saturdays, Lloyd's runs lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 9 p.m.
4. Monday, October 26. The free Downtown Cary Park Diwali Celebration runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Great Lawn Pavilion, with dance and music performances. Lloyd's is closed Mondays, so plan dinner somewhere else that night.

After October, Letters to Santa opens at Academy Plaza on November 16 and runs through December 6. Event details can change, so check the Town of Cary downtown events calendar before you go.

What's still unsettled on the map

Some pieces of this year's downtown are announced but not finished.

• The former Ashworth Drugs building at 105 E. Chatham St. In January 2025, WRAL reported that Blue Moon Bakery & Cafe planned to move from 115 W. Chatham St. into the space and add breakfast and lunch, with a target of that summer. We haven't found any later report confirming the move, so who is in the building now is unclear.
• Apex Outfitter's second shop. The store announced a location on the ground floor of the Cedar Street deck at 136 E. Cedar St., aiming for fall 2026. The News & Observer reported October as the target. We haven't seen an opening announcement as of early October.
• Doherty's at 701 E. Chatham St. The lease is signed, but no opening date has been set.
• East Chatham Street paving. The Town's 2026 Street Improvements Project includes East Chatham Street from Templeton Street to the roundabout. Paving was set to continue into the fall, and the Town expects to finish before the end of the year. The Town has warned of limited on-street parking during the work, which makes the decks more useful through the end of the year.

When Apex Outfitter opens in the Cedar deck, the decks themselves will start to hold storefronts as well as parked cars.

If you own a home near downtown Cary and want to know how this year's openings show up in what buyers will pay, Tamara White can walk you through it block by block, with an investor's eye on what's open, what's coming and what's still uncertain. Schedule a free consultation.