Downtown Huntersville's Gilead Road Block Is Finally Filling In: What's Open, What's Next

For more than 18 months after The Holbrook at Town Center opened, its storefronts on Gilead Road were mostly waiting. Now the first croissants are out of the oven, a wine bar from Birkdale is close to returning, and the taproom across the street is building a weekend late-night menu around tinned fish and vinyl records.

The businesses opening here have something in common. Almost none of them are new to the Lake Norman area. They are names Huntersville already drives somewhere else for, and they are moving into the middle of town. Town Hall can see where that leads, which is why commissioners just put money toward a second downtown parking deck.

Cocotte brings a Cornelius favorite to 111 Gilead Road

Cocotte, the artisan French bakery and gourmet market that already has a location in Cornelius, soft-opened at 111 Gilead Road on Monday, Oct. 12, Lake Norman Publications reported. The menu covers handcrafted croissants, baguettes, fresh breads, breakfast and lunch sandwiches and lattes. The paper noted that choices could be limited during the first few weeks.

The schedule matters more than the menu if you're planning a visit:

• Open: Monday and Wednesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Closed: Tuesdays
• Status: Those were the opening-period hours as of late October, so they could still change

A 3 p.m. close puts Cocotte firmly on the morning and lunch side of the block. That's a useful detail for the Saturday-errand crowd and for anyone used to driving to Cornelius for a baguette. Cocotte and The Corkscrew have also added patio dining to downtown, according to the photo caption on the same report.

Cocotte has one established neighbor in The Holbrook. B & Co Hair Salon opened there about a year ago.

The Corkscrew's return closes a gap Birkdale left in 2022

The second Holbrook opening is a homecoming of sorts. The Corkscrew Wine Shoppe & Bar was a fixture in Birkdale Village for two decades before that location closed at the end of 2022. As of Oct. 23, the shop was finishing its new Holbrook space and had not announced an opening date.

If you remember the original, the format sounds familiar: 30 to 40 wines by the glass, hundreds of bottles for retail, craft beers, handcrafted cocktails, an upscale bourbon list and small plates like charcuterie boards and flatbreads.

Between the two Holbrook tenants, the block is set up to cover both ends of the day. Cocotte handles the mornings until mid-afternoon, and The Corkscrew is built for evenings. Once The Corkscrew opens, the patio on Gilead Road could see use from breakfast through a late glass of wine.

Across the street, 760 Craft Works builds out the late shift

760 Craft Works, directly across from The Holbrook, already pours house-brewed beers, wine, THC beverages and non-alcoholic options. It is adding two things this fall.

1. A craft cocktail program, slated to launch in late October.
2. Night Swim, a 21-and-older after-dark experience that follows the cocktail launch. It runs Friday and Saturday nights from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. with dim lighting, vinyl listening sessions, signature cocktails and a curated menu of tinned fish and caviar.

Lake Norman Publications credits the concept to General Manager Layton Cross and Head of Brand and Co-Owner Alyssa Ramsey, and describes it as bringing "a Lake Norman after-dark vibe to the taproom." Families keep their spot. During regular operating hours, 760 Craft Works stays a family-friendly taproom. The 21-and-older crowd gets the late weekend slot.

Night Swim was announced as a late-October launch, so it's a good idea to check 760's own channels for the first night before you plan a weekend around it.

Still to come: a food truck goes brick-and-mortar, and the old Town Hall gets a new job

The pattern of familiar local names continues past what's open today. Here's the pipeline as of late October 2026, with the status of each project:

The former Town Hall project has been moving for most of the year. In January 2026, Lake Norman Publications reported that a proposed buyer had offered $1.44 million for the building and planned to put food or beverage in 75% of it. A restaurant concept involving a local or regional chef was still being worked out at the time. The October update did not name a developer or tenants. It did report that construction is scheduled to start next year.

Why a second parking deck is part of the story

The town's money shows how seriously it takes all of this. At the Oct. 6 town board meeting, commissioners approved a $907,200 preliminary design contract with Shelco LLC for a public parking deck built directly above the Town Hall parking lot. They also set aside $1 million from the General Fund for design and site preparation, according to Lake Norman Publications. That $1 million covers design and prep work. It is not the deck's full construction cost.

The deck is meant to serve Town Hall, Veterans Park and downtown businesses, and the town expects it to help drive economic development in the town core. Downtown already has the Town Center garage at 105 Gilead Road. The new deck would be a second one, sized for a downtown with more places to go.

Taken together, a bakery, a wine bar, a dumpling restaurant, a bookstore biergarten and a food hall-style Town Hall are being planned for the same few blocks. All of them depend on people parking once and walking.

December puts the block to its first real test

The holiday calendar will show how the new block handles a crowd. Most of the town's December events happen within a short walk of Gilead Road:

Holidays in Huntersville, presented by Novant Health, includes free children's rides, artisan ice sculptures, stage performances by local groups, carolers, face painting, balloon twisters and roaming holiday characters, according to Huntersville Today. For Santa's Village, the town says reservations open closer to the date and walk-ups are also welcome.

New Year's Eve is the event that ties back to this post. A Huntersville New Year's is hosted at Holbrook Park and 760 CraftWorks, so the town's countdown happens on the same block that just filled in.

Road closures and parking for the first weekend of December

These are the details from the town's Holidays in Huntersville page, as summarized by Huntersville Today:

• Closed 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, and 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5: Main Street from Huntersville-Concord Road to Bigham Street, and Maxwell Street from Huntersville-Concord Road to Huntersville ARP Church.
• Public parking: Town Center parking garage, 105 Gilead Road; Huntersville Elementary, 200 Gilead Road; downtown greenway trailhead, 102 Gilead Road.
• Accessible parking: Reserved at Town Hall, 14704 N. Old Statesville Road.

Since the Town Center garage and the greenway trailhead are both on Gilead Road, a festival Saturday could easily start with an early lunch at Cocotte. It closes at 3 p.m., the same hour Holidays in Huntersville opens. Just remember that Cocotte is closed on Tuesdays, and check the bakery's current hours before you go.

Birkdale Village has its own holiday kickoff on Saturday, Nov. 21. The Lighting of Birkdale Village runs from 2 to 7 p.m., with a parade at 4:30 p.m. and the tree lighting at 6 p.m. Birkdale on Ice opens in The Plaza the same day and runs through Jan. 10.

Watching a downtown come together one storefront at a time is one of my favorite parts of living and working around Huntersville. If you're curious how a block like Gilead Road fits into your own plans, whether that's your morning routine, a future move or just where the dog gets walked, Roxy Kraemer is happy to talk it over, ideally on that new patio with a croissant. Let's Connect.