In 1974, Cindy Trowbridge was in her early twenties, just out of college, and working a part-time serving job at the top of the round Holiday Inn on Hillsborough Street. She told Midtown Magazine that guests dressed for dinner, the tips were good, and the bar filled up on nights when a pianist played. Staff had a nickname for the building: "the Beer Can."
"The view from the top floor was the best in Raleigh," she said.
That room is open again. And this October, a few blocks away, two Whiskey Kitchen owners opened a basement bar meant to bring back a different Raleigh habit: showing up somewhere without a plan. Downtown's two most talked-about new rooms both look backward, and both were built for people who live here.
The room that almost went down with the building
The tower at 320 Hillsborough St. went up in 1969. It was one of only 25 round Holiday Inns ever built, according to The News & Observer, and part of the round-hotel run that came out of founder Kemmons Wilson's expansion of the brand. For eight years it was the tallest building in Raleigh. Over the decades it picked up nicknames like "the Hair Curler," along with different hotel names, top-floor dinners, piano nights and visiting musicians. Bands including Southern Culture on the Skids played the top floor, the N&O reported in 2025. A 2022 WRAL look back described that top floor as having nearly 360-degree views.
Then it nearly vanished. Tidal Real Estate Partners bought the property in 2021, and in 2022 the plan was to tear the tower down and build a 20-story mixed-use project with a luxury hotel, apartments and restaurant space. That project never happened. In December 2025 the tower was named a Raleigh Historic Landmark, and the redevelopment shifted to reusing the building instead of replacing it.
The $36 million renovation kept the round shape and redid the inside. The result is Hotel Indigo Raleigh Downtown, with 204 rooms, mid-century modern design and work by local artists. The ground floor was rebuilt with a community lounge and a courtyard where coffee is served from an Airstream. The hotel held its grand opening on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, with Mayor Janet Cowell and Downtown Raleigh Alliance President Bill King in attendance. King called it "one of the most talked-about buildings in downtown."
What's at the top now
The old dinner room is now High Ground Lounge, on the 20th floor. The hotel's High Ground page describes floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the city, a menu of small plates meant for sharing that changes with the seasons, and eight house cocktails "spun by hand." The N&O described the space as retro-furnished in earth tones, with "an almost complete view of Raleigh's cityscape."
What matters most for locals is that you don't need a room key. General manager Carlos Faz told The News & Observer at the opening:
"Now that we're open to the public, we want to be the living room of the community and the lounge of the community, and continue to pay homage to everyone who had a life event here in the past."
He added that "the affinity and the emotional attachment that the community has to the building has engaged us since day one."
Here's what to know before you take the elevator up, based on the hotel's High Ground page and IHG's dining listing:
| Detail | High Ground Lounge |
|---|---|
| Breakfast | Daily, 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. |
| Golden hour | Daily, 4 to 5 p.m. |
| Dinner | Sunday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 to 11 p.m. |
| Seating | Walk-ins at the bar, always; seating is first come, first served |
| Capacity | 131 people |
| Dress code | Business casual or casual |
| Private room | The Edenton Room, seating up to 32 |
With first-come seating and room for 131, a Friday sunset will fill up. The daily 4 to 5 p.m. golden hour is the easier way in, especially in November, when the sun sets early enough that the skyline is lighting up while you're still on your first drink. The breakfast service is easy to miss. A 6:30 a.m. coffee 20 floors above Hillsborough Street makes a good weekday meeting spot, and it's something the old room was never really known for.
Twenty floors down, a different old habit
High Ground revives the dressed-up dinner with a view. Low Bar, which opened Oct. 15 at 201 W. Martin St., revives something looser. It took over the former IMURJ space beneath Whiskey Kitchen and comes from Whiskey Kitchen co-owners Jeff Mickel and Michael Thor.
In Raleigh Magazine's first look, Mickel describes the bar he wanted by looking back to his Flying Saucer days in the early 2000s:
"You just showed up there. … It almost didn't matter if your friends were there."
"We wanted a basic bar," he told the magazine. He pictures a place where "the Downtown construction worker and the lawyer from across the street" sit shoulder to shoulder. The room is set up for exactly that:
- Bar-height seating throughout, which Mickel says lets people "walk around and talk to each other at eye level"
- A free, old-school push-quarter pool table
- Exposed brick, mirrors, tufted banquettes and mismatched furniture, which designer Antoine Ponton compares to a fun uncle's basement
- The front end of an '80s Lincoln limo mounted on the wall, a nod to the limo company that once worked out of the building. "Lincolns were for partying," Mickel says.
Even the designer's history fits the theme. Ponton, whose earlier work includes the original High Horse, met Mickel about 20 years ago after taking a seat at his bar at the Saucer as a newcomer downtown, according to Raleigh Magazine.
The drinks lean toward cocktails with a slight Tiki influence, minus the umbrellas, plus a bigger focus on THC beverages. Low Bar's own site lists cold beer, THC seltzers, cocktails, wine and snacks. Whiskey Kitchen also books the basement for events, with room for 50 seated or 75 standing. Ponton framed the expansion as a business "celebrating a decade Downtown and being part of the community" and choosing to double down.
One evening, top to bottom
The two rooms work as a pair because they bring back opposite halves of an old downtown night: the special-occasion view and the no-occasion drop-in. If family is in town this weekend, or you just want to see the round tower from the inside after years of driving past it, here's one way to fit both into an evening:
- Get to 320 Hillsborough St. before 5 p.m. Golden hour at High Ground runs 4 to 5 daily, and the bar is always walk-in.
- Stay for dinner or move on. Dinner starts at 5. Small plates make it easy to eat a little upstairs and keep going.
- Head to 201 W. Martin St. and go downstairs. Check Low Bar's site for that night's hours before you go.
- Save the morning version for a weekday. High Ground serves breakfast from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. every day.
If you'd rather stay closer to the ground, other October openings are nearby. Café Royale opened the week of Oct. 5 at The Exchange, 1000 Social St., and runs from pastries and lattes in the morning to wine and charcuterie at night. On the Oakwood side of downtown, Axios Raleigh reports that chef Stacy Gallicchio Murphy opened Gallicchio's Market & Eatery at 702 N. Person St. on Oct. 8, in the former (Ish) Delicatessen space beside Person Street Pharmacy. Axios recommends the roasted pork and broccoli rabe sandwich.
If you're showing visiting family around downtown, or you're curious how Raleigh's older buildings keep finding second lives, I'm always happy to talk it through, over coffee at the top of the round tower or anywhere else. Reach out through Triangle Home Sales. Let's Connect.
