"I want it to be an only-in-Durham type place," Sean Lilly Wilson told The News & Observer before his brewery reopened. "We're in a challenging period for independent restaurants and breweries, I think we're competing against Anytown USA."
His answer opened on Tuesday, Sept. 29, in the old American Tobacco Campus power plant, between the water tower and the smokestack. The first Fullsteam opened in an old 7-Up bottling plant and helped turn the Geer Street corridor into what the N&O calls the city's busiest nightlife district. About 15 years later, the brewery left that original home in 2025 and spent two years planning and building the new one.
The move changes more than the address. At American Tobacco, Fullsteam works as a full evening venue, and its new kitchen hours line up closely with the campus's free fall concerts and the shows next door at DPAC.
A Fullsteam with no brewhouse
The biggest change is easy to miss from the sidewalk. According to Hey Durham, the ATC location doesn't brew anything on-site, which sets it apart from the old Rigsbee Avenue taproom. Fullsteam now contract brews its beer in Rocky Mount and at the NoDa brewery in Charlotte.
The space that would have held brewing equipment holds places to stay a while instead:
- A taproom and a restaurant with a newly built kitchen. Chef and baker Phoebe Lawless leads food, beverage and hospitality.
- Lucky's Lounge, with low ceilings and neon lightning bolts. The building is air-conditioned.
- A wall of pinball machines near the boiler room's original machinery, plus a giant hamburger head hanging from the ceiling that Wilson calls "Officer Big Mac."
- A 100-seat theater that Duke's Center for Documentary Studies used to run. Fullsteam plans watch parties, cultural events and movie nights there.
The early menu hadn't been released when the opening was announced. Fullsteam's Durham visit page now shows one with pub and shrimp burgers, a collard melt, fried trout, smoked chicken, country-fried steak, sides and desserts.
So the new Fullsteam is built around a meal, a lounge, a screen and a seat. That fits a campus that already brings people downtown several nights a week.
The 4-to-9 kitchen sets the timing
Here are the hours that matter for planning. The tavern is open noon to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday. The kitchen serves 4 to 9 p.m. seven days a week, and the site says longer kitchen hours are coming soon.
For now, dinner ends at 9. Most of American Tobacco's October programming wraps up before then, so a kitchen that closes at 9 still covers most of the month's free shows. Here's how the campus's listed October events line up with those hours:
| Date | What's on at ATC | How it fits the 4-to-9 kitchen |
|---|---|---|
| Fri., Oct. 9 | Live @ATC with Luke Shamblin, 6:30–8:30 p.m., free | Music ends 30 minutes before the kitchen closes |
| Sat., Oct. 10 | Good Moon Festival lawn show, 3–7 p.m., free | The kitchen opens an hour into the show and stays open two hours after |
| Fri., Oct. 16 | Tim Wells and Les Bon Temps, 6:30–8:30 p.m. | Same window as Oct. 9 |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Screamin' Bridge, then The Martin County Ramblers at 6 p.m., 3–9 p.m., free | The show and the kitchen end at the same time |
| Fri., Oct. 23 | Live @ATC jazz with Soul Livin' Group, 6:30–8:30 p.m., free | Same window as Oct. 9 |
The Oct. 10 show is the easiest to plan around. American Tobacco's event listing puts local alt-country band Woke County Speedway on at 3 p.m. and Asheville's MJ Lenderman at 5 p.m., as part of the Good Moon Festival. The lawn clears at 7, two hours before the kitchen closes.
DPAC is trickier. Its calendar lists show dates but not the start times this post would need, and the bar is the only part of Fullsteam open late enough for a post-show stop. Until the kitchen hours expand, eat at Fullsteam before a DPAC night. Come back after the show for a drink, but not for dinner.
The weekend when everything happens at once
On one stretch in mid-October, nearly everything on the calendar overlaps.
DPAC's run of the Tony Award-winning musical Maybe Happy Ending goes from Tuesday, Oct. 13, through Sunday, Oct. 18. American Tobacco hosts the Bull City Race Fest + Expo on campus Oct. 17 and 18. In the middle of that, the free Oct. 17 lawn show runs from 3 to 9 p.m.
That puts a race expo, an all-afternoon concert and a Broadway touring production within one campus on Saturday, Oct. 17, all in Fullsteam's third week open. On Friday, Oct. 16, Tim Wells and Les Bon Temps play the evening slot.
The musical has a dinner tie-in across town too. WRAL's Oct. 2 food roundup lists "An Evening in Seoul" at the Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club on Thursday, Oct. 15, from 4:30 to 6:45 p.m. It's a Korean fusion menu with jazz from Hunky Dory Durham, inspired by the show. Tickets are $225 plus tax and service charge, and seating is limited.
The rest of DPAC's October lineup keeps weeknights busy, too: Dan and Phil on Oct. 20, Jacob Collier on Oct. 21, Elmo's Got The Moves on Oct. 22, Clint Black & Midland on Oct. 23, Undertale: The Determination Symphony on Oct. 24 and Beck on Oct. 27.
The short walk out from the power plant
Fullsteam isn't the only 2026 opening within walking distance. It sits in a cluster of newcomers between the campus and the center of downtown.
- East of Texas opened on the American Tobacco Campus the week of Aug. 1. It serves Texas barbecue and Tex-Mex: brisket, smoked meats, tacos, nachos and seven margaritas.
- Ashleigh Bakes Daily opened its own second-floor kitchen at 111 W. Main St. on June 19. Its cookies are mixed by hand, with stuffed flavors that change daily.
- La Santa began a soft opening at 110 Corcoran St. on July 23. The same operators replaced their La Mala cocktail-bar concept in that building.
- Saint Mars is a cocktail bar built around vinyl listening, below Bar Virgile, in the space Annexe left when it closed in July after six years. It was set to open the week of Aug. 17, though no exact date had been announced as of mid-August.
With those openings, an ATC evening can start with cookies on Main Street, move to brisket at East of Texas or a burger at Fullsteam, and end with records under Bar Virgile.
The corridor Fullsteam left behind is still getting new places. Delancey Tavern opened Feb. 5, 2026, at 408 W. Geer St. in the former Weeks Motor Company showroom. The two areas now offer different kinds of nights, and both had new restaurants open this year.
November, and what hasn't been announced yet
Once Halloween passes, DPAC's calendar leans toward big shows and the holidays:
- Mrs. Doubtfire, Oct. 30 through Nov. 1
- Waiting to Exhale in Concert, Nov. 5
- Little Big Town, Nov. 6
- Death Becomes Her, Nov. 10 through 15
- BEAT, Nov. 17
- NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet, Nov. 19
- A Drag Queen Christmas, Nov. 20
- Cirque du Soleil's 'Twas the Night Before…, Nov. 25 through Dec. 6
Across the campus at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, FestiBull of Lights has a session on Sunday, Nov. 22, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. The listing describes synchronized holiday lights, Santa, the Holiday Express, crafts, s'mores, and food and drinks.
Two details were still open as of opening week. Hey Durham's opening report described plans for watch parties, cultural events and movie nights in the new 100-seat theater but gave no dates. And the "soon" next to the kitchen hours hasn't turned into a new closing time. If either changes, the 9 p.m. limit on dinner before and after a DPAC show goes away.
At Greenwood Residential, we like knowing which Durham nights fall into place easily and which take a dinner reservation and a plan for parking. If you live near downtown and wonder how places like the new Fullsteam figure into what your home is worth today, ask us for a free home valuation. We'll show you what nearby homes have actually sold for and give you a straight answer.
