The Yard, a new shipping container bar, will open on Glenwood Avenue this summer in Raleigh.
Redline Design Group
It’s customary to christen a ship with the smash of a champagne bottle, but how do you open a shipping container bar?
A new bar landing on Glenwood Avenue looks to expand the reach of the famous Raleigh nightlife district.
Built out of shipping containers, The Yard is the latest concept from Jonathan Seelbinder, the Raleigh restaurateur whose Local Icon Hospitality Group owns Virgil’s, new cocktail bar The Merchant, Little City Brewing and The Green Light.
Seelbinder teamed up with Raleigh developer CityPlat for The Yard, working with the firm’s Gaurav “G” Patel, who was an influential force in the city’s nightlife scene, launching popular spots like The Haymaker before getting into commercial development.
“We’re excited about it, a drinking establishment with food,” Seelbinder said. “We think it will make for a great addition to the Glenwood district.”
The Yard will be built at 701 Glenwood Ave., the former Peace Street Inspections Center, which CityPlat bought in 2020 for $1.55 million.
Expanding Glenwood’s nightlife
Glenwood has long been the beating heart of Raleigh’s nightlife scene, with the district packed with bars and restaurants and weekend crowds. The bustle has long been centered south of Peace Street, but The Yard will expand the strip for the first time.
The Yard’s main kitchen will be built in the former service station, which will remain. The rest of the project will be built out of about a dozen shipping containers, some stacked, creating a corral of multiple bars, rooftops and tables.
“It’s a really good opportunity to create a cool hangout space for daytime eating and drinking,” Seelbinder said. “People want to be outside, and we’ll have lots of outdoor seating.”
Seelbinder said to expect three to four different food menus, potentially rotating through. The creator of popular spots like the taqueria Virgil’s and the former Linus & Pepper’s said anything is possible.
“Anything and everything we’ve done in the past could end up over there,” Seelbinder said.
The Yard has been designed by Raleigh firm Redline Design Group. Seelbinder said the project is eyeing a summer opening.
‘Unique and different’
Patel said he and Seelbinder have known each other for more than 15 years of working in Raleigh’s bar and restaurant industry, believing that history could create something special for the Glenwood scene.
“We have that brotherly bond and trust factor,” Patel said. “We put the right team in place and have the vision to create something that’s unique and different to the market.”
The Triangle got its first taste of the shipping container development last year with the opening of RTP Boxyard between Raleigh and Durham. That project is more of a destination within a larger office district. The Yard attaches itself to an established nightlife engine, Patel said.
“It’s a highly dense neighborhood, walkability is a big component to it,” Patel said. “We’re very excited to bring something unique and different as a connector to the Peace Street resurgence.”
Drew Jackson writes about restaurants and dining for The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun, covering the food scene in the Triangle and North Carolina.
