Cat's Cradle is throwing open the doors of its long-awaited second Carrboro venue before its official opening, giving music fans two chances to see the new space in action: a free get-out-the-vote rally on Oct. 23 featuring Hiss Golden Messenger's string band and Watchhouse, followed by a Built to Spill concert on Nov. 3. The new club sits at 107 Brewer Lane, about a quarter-mile east of the original Cat's Cradle at 300 E. Main St., and caps off two years of construction on a site the venue has owned since 2020.
According to The News & Observer, the new two-story building runs roughly 14,000 square feet and holds up to 1,100 people, with a mezzanine, multiple full-service bars, and a state-of-the-art sound and lighting system. County tax records cited by the paper show the new club is about 1,000 square feet larger than the original venue, which has operated at 300 E. Main St. since 1993 with a 750-person capacity before later adding a 200-person Back Room and outdoor music space.
Club owner Frank Heath said in a news release that the preview events will let the public experience the venue before its official opening, and that Cat's Cradle will soon operate three active venues in Carrboro at once — enough, he said, to stage a variety of shows across genres featuring both developing and established acts. Surrounding lots at the Brewer Lane site could allow for future expansion or added parking, per the same report.
Construction Roots Go Back to a 2020 Land Purchase
Heath's real estate company, Sweet D LLC, bought the Brewer Lane property along with two adjacent lots at 109 Brewer Lane for $1.4 million back in 2020, part of an estimated $2.8 million construction and expansion project, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. The Town of Carrboro's Town Council had created a special permit requirement for the site back in 2018, and permitting and site work that began in 2020 faced multi-year delays tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, as reported by The Daily Tar Heel. Permits for the project describe expanding a vacant 8,800-square-foot structure into the finished two-story club, which features a 275-square-foot stage, more than 4,000 square feet of standing room, and five total bars across both levels.
Part of the push to build a second facility came from uncertainty surrounding the original Main Street site. Landlord Main Street Partners allowed redevelopment permits for 300 E. Main St. to lapse in January 2024, prompting Cat's Cradle leadership to plan on running both locations simultaneously rather than relocating outright, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. That uncertainty echoes a shift already seen at the complex: longtime co-tenant The ArtsCenter relocated from 300 E. Main St. in August 2023 to its own building at 400 Roberson Street in Carrboro, according to Chapelboro, leaving Cat's Cradle operating at the original strip mall alongside restaurants like Haw River Tap & Table and Amante Gourmet Pizza.
From a 24-Person Basement to a Triangle Institution
Cat's Cradle's roots stretch back to 1969, when Marcia Wilson, Mike Cross, and Larry Reynolds founded the club in a basement on West Rosemary Street that held barely two dozen people. The venue moved through several addresses and survived a tax-related bankruptcy in 1983 before Heath bought the business in 1987, per The Daily Tar Heel's history of the club. By the early 1990s, Cat's Cradle had become a cornerstone of the Triangle's alternative music scene, helping inspire national media to dub Chapel Hill the “Next Seattle” and famously hosting Nirvana on Oct. 4, 1991 — just 10 days after the release of Nevermind — according to the Wikipedia entry on the venue.
The club marked its 50th anniversary in late 2019 with a six-night, 50-band festival in which Triangle acts like Superchunk, Southern Culture on the Skids, and Steep Canyon Rangers played for free or reduced rates out of loyalty to the venue, the North Carolina Arts Council reported. Before pandemic-era disruptions, the club had been running as a high-volume live performance hub, hosting more than 300 live events a year across its main room and Back Room stages, per research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
What's Playing First at the New Club
The first public event at 107 Brewer Lane will be a free get-out-the-vote rally on Oct. 23 featuring Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and former Governor Roy Cooper, with music from the Hiss Golden Messenger string band, Karly Hartzman, Tift Merritt, Watchhouse, and Viv & Riley with support from Davie Circle, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. Built to Spill then headlines the new venue on Nov. 3 with support from Quasi, doors opening at 7 p.m. Tickets for that show cost $33 in advance and $36 the day of the show, going on sale Friday at catscradle.com.
The new Brewer Lane venue places Cat's Cradle in an evolving commercial stretch alongside industrial neighbors like NAPA Auto Parts and Carolina Car Wash as well as newer additions like The Cheese Shop and Belltree Cocktail Club, the Raleigh News & Observer noted. With only two Cat's Cradle venues currently operating in Carrboro, as the third is not yet fully operational, Heath's club may accommodate everything from developing local acts to larger national touring shows.
