Texas burger chain eyes former Triangle mall, as home goods store gets settled
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- In June, Whataburger applied to build a 2,074 sq ft restaurant at 219 S. Estes Drive.
- Ram Realty Advisors is combining smaller mall spaces to add a 28,100 sq ft HomeSense.
- The Whataburger plan must meet flood and drive-thru regulations to be approved.
A regional fast-food chain wants to put University Place in Chapel Hill on the menu, while a large portion of the former mall is renovated to make room for a discount home furnishings store, records show.
Texas-based Whataburger has been expanding across North Carolina, and in June, applied for a 2,074-square-foot restaurant with a drive-thru at 219 S. Estes Drive, next to Circle K.
Property owner Ram Realty Advisors is also combining several smaller spaces inside the former mall to add a 28,100-square-foot HomeSense. The discount home furnishings store only has one other North Carolina store in Concord, near Charlotte.
There is no word yet on when either business could open, but that makes eight tenants announced this year for the redeveloping 1970s-era mall, including:
- Barnes and Noble: The national book retailer’s sign is over the door, and the 19,734-square-foot, former Planet Fitness space, across the parking lot from Harris Teeter, is being renovated.
- Bliss Nail Spa’s second location in Chapel Hill.
- SWTHZ, a modern wellness and recovery business
- VEG Emergency Vet
- H&H Bagels
- Postino: The 4,485-square-foot restaurant will have a large patio and a menu of artisanal wines, craft brews, cocktails, and shared plates, such as salads, panini, bruschetta and charcuterie. Renovations are happening at the mall’s southeastern corner.
What Whataburger needs to open
Whataburger started in 1950 in a small building in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has grown to 1,130 restaurants operating 24/7 in 17 states. Sixteen locations have been built in North Carolina since May 2025, including in Mebane and Wake County.
The company’s founder Harmon Dobson had one goal, according to the company’s website: Serving “a burger so big it took two hands to hold and so good that after one bite guests would say, ‘What a burger!’”
Last year, Whataburger celebrated 75 years of made-to-order, customizable burgers with fries and shakes, along with chicken sandwiches, salads, sides and breakfast items.
Chapel Hill town records show the company has been talking with University Place owner Ram Realty since 2024.
Most Whataburger restaurants operate 24/7 year-round, except for Christmas Day. If Chapel Hill’s location also operates 24/7, it will be one of a handful of very late-night food options in southern Orange County.
It will also be one of the rare restaurants with a drive-thru, which is tightly regulated and hard to get in Chapel Hill. Ram Realty’s redevelopment permit allows six businesses with drive-throughs that meet specific design guidelines. The property has four now: three banks and a Chick-fil-A restaurant.
Ram Realty has agreed to build a small “pocket park” between the Whataburger drive-thru lane and Estes Drive in order to meet the requirements for Whataburger’s drive-thru, a town spokesman said.
Whataburger’s project still needs staff approval and a Community Design Commission advisory review of its building exterior and lighting. There is no timeline yet for that review.
The other consideration will be the site’s location in the special flood hazard zone and part of the regulatory floodway. The area flooded badly during Tropical Storm Chantal last year.
FEMA requires commercial buildings in the high-risk flood zone to sit at or above the base flood level, or to floodproof their buildings from the ground up.
The developer’s third-party stormwater report says the project could cause a 53% increase in the impervious area, which creates stormwater runoff. A “system of inlets and underground pipes” could handle a 10-year rain event, or about 3 inches in three hours, it said.
