Trig Modern, the high-end furniture and design store at Dock 1053 in Raleigh, is expanding into a larger space within the building and adding a small cocktail club called Parlour 1053, set to pour its first drinks in October. The 15-seat venue will operate roughly three nights a week with a bartender and will also be available to rent out for private events.
The idea grew out of simple square footage, according to Axios, which first reported the plans. Trig's move into a bigger footprint at Dock 1053 left the Riek family, who own the store, with extra room they hadn't quite figured out what to do with. Zach Gregory said the additional space is what sparked the idea for a jazz-style social club, an idea conceived by owners Justin Riek and Ryan Riek, according to the outlet.
Gregory said Trig is trying to become more community-oriented, adding that the company wants Parlour 1053 to be a place for everybody, not just design clients. Parlour 1053 will primarily serve designers, clients, and other people already visiting Dock 1053 for its shops and offices, per the same account. Trig Modern previously ran a small wine bar inside its store, and Gregory pointed to that earlier experiment as evidence of real customer appetite for a bar concept layered onto a furniture showroom.
A Decade of Moves Around Raleigh
Trig Modern has had a Raleigh storefront since 2012, when it launched on West Jones Street in Downtown Raleigh. The retailer relocated to Dock 1053 in 2016 after its original downtown building was slated for apartment redevelopment and rents climbed, according to INDY Week. The Riek family took over ownership of the showroom in the spring of 2023, more than a decade after its initial founding.
Dock 1053 itself carries its own layered history. The 181,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1955 as an A&P grocery regional distribution facility, complete with an internal train siding, an egg-candling room, and cold storage, before later serving as a Winn-Dixie warehouse, according to Visit Raleigh. Today the building also houses The Loading Dock co-working space, Hummingbird, Wilson's Eatery, and Lynwood Brewing Concern, according to Axios.
New Ownership, Bigger Ambitions
Developer Grubb Ventures bought the Whitaker Mill Road property in 2014 and converted the former warehouse into a multi-tenant creative office and retail destination. Grubb Ventures sold Dock 1053 for $35 million in October 2025 to commercial real estate developer Beacon Partners, which now owns the building and is investing in a refresh of the property, per Axios. Beacon had already expanded in the submarket months earlier, buying an adjacent 125,000-square-foot industrial warehouse at 2315 Atlantic Avenue for $20.75 million in May 2025.
Beacon Partners is also seeking a 20-story rezoning on a warehouse property off Capital Boulevard, part of a filing that Hoodline previously reported called for up to 5,700 residential units, capitalizing on Raleigh's Capital North Corridor Plan and planned Bus Rapid Transit lines. The push signals just how much appetite there is for density in the corridors surrounding Dock 1053, even as the building itself leans into smaller-scale hospitality additions like Parlour 1053.
Neighborhood Still Absorbing a Big Vacancy
Raleigh Iron Works and East End Market sit adjacent to Dock 1053, and both plan additional construction in the coming years, according to Axios. But the district isn't without turbulence: directly across Whitaker Mill Road, the 23,000-square-foot eatertainment venue Jaguar Bolera, which paired duckpin bowling with self-serve taps, permanently closed without prior notice, as Hoodline reported in coverage of the sudden shutdown.
The $150 million Raleigh Iron Works project was jointly redeveloped by Jamestown and Grubb Ventures to complement Dock 1053's success and form a connected retail and design district, with the two campuses sharing pedestrian pathways and complementary tenant bases. Set against that backdrop, a compact, appointment-friendly concept like Parlour 1053 fits a broader pattern Hoodline has tracked in the Triangle, where landlords are increasingly offering pre-furnished spec suites and flexible layouts to lower the friction of filling retail and office space.
Membership Rules Could Shape the Club
Because Parlour 1053 is described as a small, limited-capacity social club rather than a full-service restaurant, it will likely need to navigate North Carolina's regulatory framework for private bars. Under North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 18B, venues operating as private social clubs or bars that don't meet standard food-to-alcohol sales percentages must maintain formal membership rosters and restrict access to members and their designated guests, according to guidance from the NC ABC Commission. State rules bar walk-in house guests at private bar permittees, meaning how Parlour 1053 structures access for the designers, clients, and Dock 1053 visitors it hopes to serve will matter once the doors open in October.
