Before cars piled into Downtown Cary’s new parking decks, before art and pimento cheese street festivals drew thousands to Academy Street, back when the railroad served as the economic engine of Cary, the crossroads at Academy and Chatham streets emerged as a bustling destination for town residents and travelers.
This intersection is “Cary’s original crossroads,” historian Carla Michaels writes on the website for Friends of the Page-Walker, Cary’s historical society. Back in the early 1900s, when East Chatham was “nothing more than a country lane,” a post office building was at the intersection corner. Michaels’ research of newspaper archives and historic documents indicates that a filling station was built there by 1934, servicing migrant workers passing through the town.
The intersection has evolved alongside Cary’s growth; now, construction is underway at that 107 E. Chatham Street corner, with Lloyd’s Full Service expected to open this summer.
The highly anticipated neighborhood restaurant will draw on the Amoco station’s design iteration in the 1950s, when it was updated and modernized. Lloyd’s will be managed by Craig Spitzer and Craig Shipley with Early Bird | Night Owl, the management group behind The Mayton and restaurant/bar Peck & Plume in Downtown Cary.
Drawing People In, From the 1930s to the Future
U.S. Highways 1 and 64 once ran through the heart of Cary, making it a popular stop for travelers and locals looking to fuel up.
It’s the vision of Lloyd’s Amoco Service Station, operated by K.M. Lloyd, who Michaels’ research identified as a volunteer firefighter and township constable, that inspired its future as a restaurant. Lloyd had taken over the service station from John Norwood and its likely original business owner in 1934, R. O. Heater.
When it was revamped by Lloyd, a 1951 opening day announcement, published in The News & Observer, highlighted the renovation of the longstanding filling station. The ad also featured a smiling photo of Lloyd, who was “widely known in this vicinity.”
“We’ve just rebuilt and modernized our Amoco station at Chatham and Academy Streets,” the ad read, “and we’re mighty proud of the many improvements we’ve made.”
The developers referenced historic photos and newspaper clippings while bringing it back to the 1950s-era design, with a stucco exterior and bands around the top of the building.
A restaurant provides an opportunity for a large number of people to come in and see and feel the historic building, said Jordan Gussenhoven of Chatham Street Commercial, one of the developers managing the project, along with Bill Zahn with Triangle Real Estate Co.
“It has outdoor space,” Gussenhoven wrote over email, “Which is visually inviting for visitors passing through downtown; and it is open in the evenings, so there is energy [and] light instead of a quiet, dark corner.”
Keeping Cary’s History
The building and site were acquired by the same ownership group as The Mayton, and Gussenhoven said the group saw value in an adaptive reuse of the building. Most recently, the building housed Gurkan’s Downtown Auto Repair.
“Downtown Cary doesn’t have a lot of old bones left,” he said in an interview with The Line, adding that “the character and the history [are] what differentiates” downtown from other areas in Cary.
It’s not the first historic property in downtown Cary that’s tied to the UNC-Chapel Hill alum, who studied history as an undergraduate. Chatham Street Commercial was also behind the relocation and restoration of the Williams House, circa 1938, which now houses a coffee/brewhouse, RBF champagne bar, and a bridal shop.
Gussenhoven declined to share the total cost of the Lloyd’s project restoration, but said the ownership group was willing to shoulder the cost to see that corner of downtown activated.
What It Takes to Transform
In late February, I donned a hard hat and toured the interior of the under-construction building with Gussenhoven. The sweeping ceilings of the service bays will stay exposed, with tongue and groove wood for the X-like bracing, and in the future, hold a dining area and bar.
The waiting room was built with a lower ceiling, and that configuration will be preserved to hold the hospitality stand and an intimate dining area. Preserving what’s possible from the filling station isn’t without its challenges: the old building creates some “unique geometry” that you wouldn’t have in a new build, Gussenhoven said.
The design intent is for the existing building to stand on its own, but the addition is what makes it possible to be a restaurant, Gussenhoven said.
The expansion includes a back-of-the-house buildout for the restaurant, the kitchen, and restrooms, and adds a section that may be rented for private events. A light brick exterior will blend with the stucco, and windows in the addition will be circular, to match the planned Art Deco styling.
The added outdoor seating will be covered with a canopy, and heaters, fans, and curtains will make it an all-season space.
Lloyd’s Full Service is expected to open sometime this summer, a spokesperson said. In the meantime, you can follow along with their website, Instagram, or The Line’s continuing coverage.
See more about Cary’s history, including historic photos, on the Friends of the Page-Walker website.
Share your thoughts about this story and other Cary coverage at line@theassemblync.com.