A Parisian-style cafe is headed for the ground floor of The Exchange in Midtown Raleigh, and it's the latest sign that one local nightlife entrepreneur is turning the development into his own personal playground. Cafe Royale plans to open next month in the space formerly occupied by the Optimist coffee shop, serving espresso drinks, tea, pastries and sandwiches by day before shifting into cheese boards, charcuterie, and champagne and dessert cocktails as the evening rolls on.
The cafe comes from Patrick Shanahan, described by Axios reporter Zachery Eanes as an artist-turned-entrepreneur, whose flagship bar, Watts & Ward, anchors his reputation in downtown Raleigh. Cafe Royale will be Shanahan's third project to debut in 2026, joining Capulet Cocktail Club and Rosebud, and the outlet notes the cafe is designed to encourage customers to linger throughout the day rather than grab a coffee and go. A full menu and opening date are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
A Shared Courtyard, A Growing Footprint
Cafe Royale will share a courtyard with the Italian-inspired Capulet at The Exchange in Midtown Raleigh, per the same Axios report, tying together yet another corner of Shanahan's expanding cluster of concepts in the development. He has already helped open Peregrine and Capulet Cocktail Club there, and Peregrine, the fine-dining venture he launched with chef Saif Rahman, was named a national semifinalist for Best New Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation in January. That partnership, formed under the banner S&P Hospitality in 2024, pairs Rahman's Bangladeshi heritage and North Carolina ingredients with Shanahan's design sensibility, according to WALTER Magazine.
Capulet Cocktail Club, which opened December 16 at 1000 Social Street, was built as Midtown Raleigh's first dedicated craft cocktail lounge, complete with an Italian film aesthetic, a 32-foot Roman-style dome and an outdoor courtyard garden bar, as detailed by Raleigh Magazine. That same 1000 Social tower is a $200 million, 12-story trophy office building completed in 2024, offering 333,000 square feet of office space alongside 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and restaurant space, according to Building North Carolina.
From Fox Liquor Bar's Basement to Rosebud
Shanahan's 2026 expansion hasn't stopped at Midtown. In February, he and partner Robby Opperman opened Rosebud Cocktail Lounge in the 2,000-square-foot subterranean space at 103 E. Martin St. downtown, a room formerly occupied by Ashley Christensen's Fox Liquor Bar. The new lounge brought in vinyl DJs and omakase cocktail flights, the same Raleigh Magazine report notes. Beverage director Zack Thomas, who first worked with Shanahan on the drink menu at Watts & Ward, now oversees cocktail programs across the newer ventures, including Capulet and Rosebud.
Before any of this, Shanahan studied film at NC State University and the New York Film Academy, writing, producing and directing his debut independent feature, *The Carolinian*, at age 21. That background in visual storytelling shows up in his venues' design, starting with Watts & Ward, the Victorian-and-Prohibition-inspired speakeasy he opened in April 2017 in the basement of the historic 1912 Montague Building.
The Optimist's Old Corner Gets a New Look
The retail spot Cafe Royale is taking over has its own history at The Exchange. WRK by The Optimist debuted there in November 2023 as the development's very first food and beverage tenant, serving coffee and local bakery items from Boulted Bread inside the office lobby. How Cafe Royale will differentiate its daytime coffee-and-pastry business from that earlier tenant remains to be seen, and much depends on how quickly the surrounding development builds out.
The Exchange Raleigh itself is a 40-acre, $1 billion development from Dewitt Carolinas, designed to eventually hold nearly 1 million square feet of office space, 125,000 square feet of retail and dining, 1,275 residential units and a 4-acre central park, with full build-out expected between 2027 and 2032. As that timeline plays out, Shanahan's growing hospitality cluster at 1000 Social will be counted on to help drive foot traffic beyond typical office hours.
