Autumn Hall's Stretch of Eastwood Road Is Changing at Both Ends
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
In about a year, the two ends of Eastwood Road around Autumn Hall have both changed. Toward the drawbridge, one restaurant building at 1610 Pavilion Place has gone from Waterman's Brewing to a two-concept split to Cabana Bar & Grill. At the Military Cutoff corner, land that one family owned for decades is becoming Center Point, which has more than 32,000 square feet of retail planned for its first phase. Next year's places to eat and shop along this road will look different from last year's, and most of the change lands between this fall and early 2027.
The Pavilion Place building has changed fast enough that the dates are worth laying out:
That's three different setups in one building in under twelve months. The latest owners already run three downtown Wilmington restaurants: Yosake, Tempo 33 and The Husk. Cabana is the first time they've opened something out by the beach. Gsell told WECT the goal was a getaway for "locals and tourists alike."
The StarNews put Cabana in its Sept. 1 list of new places to try, calling it "an island-inspired restaurant near Wrightsville Beach." No public report confirms that it opened on the Aug. 17 target date. The restaurant is open now, though, with a full menu on its website and reservations on Resy.
The menu leans Caribbean. It has conch or saltfish fritters, coconut-curry mussels, jerk wings, paella and a burger called the Tropical Smash. Gsell told WECT the cocktails use house-made syrups, the bar has TVs throughout, and the bar offers local beers alongside the Caribbean cocktails.
Brunch is where Cabana differs most from what this building has served before. It runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The brunch menu has pernil hash, breakfast revoltillo, French toast, chicken and waffles, and shrimp and grits.
| Detail | What the restaurant lists |
|---|---|
| Address | 1610 Pavilion Pl., Wilmington, NC 28403 |
| Posted hours | Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. |
| Weekend brunch | Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| Phone | (910) 679-4011 |
One detail matters if you're planning a Sunday. WECT's August report said Cabana would be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. The restaurant's contact page lists general hours for Monday through Saturday only, while the menu page still advertises Sunday brunch. Call the number above before you plan Sunday dinner there.
The events calendar is filling in too. Tom Leighton played Cabana on Friday, Sept. 4, from 8 to 11 p.m. On Sept. 6, ILM Live listed a "Sip & Sing" brunch party with DJ Sammy McClammy. The $20 door price covered two mimosas, brunch bites and a photobooth. Neither event is listed as recurring. Still, two events in its first few weeks show the owners are booking music and brunch parties.
The Pavilion Place building is a single standalone site that has been rebuilt one concept at a time. Center Point is the reverse: a planned cluster of shops going up together on land that had never been developed.
The site sits at 1531 and 1541 Eastwood Road, near the Military Cutoff intersection. A 2017 WilmingtonBiz report described it as undeveloped land the Wetherill family had owned for decades, with two of the siblings living in homes on the tract. Tree clearing started in 2022. The developers are The Beach Company and Wilmington-based Swain & Associates. Phase I pairs The Sterling, a 265-unit apartment building, with more than 32,000 square feet of retail across four buildings.
The tenant list was announced in two rounds this year. Here is what WilmingtonBiz has reported:
| Business | What it is | Space leased |
|---|---|---|
| Burtons Grill & Bar | Restaurant | Just over 6,000 sq. ft. |
| Nest Interiors + Blended Shoes + Apparel | Two local shops combined in one family-owned space led by a mother and her daughters | More than 3,600 sq. ft. |
| Thompson's of Wilmington | New men's clothing shop | Just over 1,700 sq. ft. |
| Jeff's Bagel Run | Bagel shop | Nearly 1,500 sq. ft. |
| Self Skin Studio | Wilmington-based skin studio founded by Trish Holmes, moving to a larger location | 2,589 sq. ft. |
| SWTHZ | Wellness concept | 1,820 sq. ft. |
Burtons is the anchor at roughly 6,000 square feet, which is close to the size of the whole Pavilion Place building. Most of the other spaces are smaller, between about 1,500 and 3,600 square feet.
A seventh name is likely but not yet signed. In early August, the owners of Al's Burger Shack said they were finalizing details on a Center Point space. Jason Kesler and Charlie Farris opened a Leland location at 3556 Leland Town Center Drive in 2024. "We'd like to open at the beginning of next year," Kesler told Cardinal & Pine; his stated target points to early 2027. The burger that earned the chain its best-in-state honor is the Bobo Chili Cheeseburger, topped with chili, slaw, onion, mustard and American cheese. Toppings, chili and bacon are made in-house.
No business at Center Point has a firm opening date. In its February release, The Beach Company projected first-phase retail openings for winter 2026 through early 2027. WilmingtonBiz's May tenant report gave a wider window: fall or winter of this year, or the following spring. The August announcement still described the project as under construction. As of Oct. 3, 2026, no later tenant news has surfaced.
So the timeline runs about like this. Cabana is open now near the drawbridge. Burtons, Jeff's Bagel Run and the Center Point shops are expected from this winter into early 2027, and Al's Burger Shack is aiming for early 2027 if its lease is finalized. These dates are projections. Even so, both ends of this road will look different by next spring than they did last fall.
Getting there on foot or by bike is still an open question. The City of Wilmington lists Autumn Hall as a point of interest along the 15-mile Gary Shell Cross-City Trail. The 2017 plans for Center Point called for extending the trail along its Eastwood Road frontage, and possibly along a stream through the property with footbridges. That was a plan from nine years ago, and no current source confirms the connection was built. Whether you can walk or bike there from Autumn Hall will only be clear once the shops open.
Some of this year's change is happening at Mayfaire Town Center, just up Military Cutoff. Lovesac opened at 6858 Main St. and Flip Flop Shops at 917 Town Center Drive; both were open by late May. The StarNews reported in July that Pandora was coming. Mayfaire's directory now lists the store at 6825 Main St. with a grand-opening offer. With Center Point coming in at the Eastwood corner, the area around Military Cutoff and Eastwood will have more shops and restaurants close together than it did a year ago.
New restaurants, shops and a new mixed-use project on your road also shape how buyers see your street. If you'd like to know how all this change on Eastwood Road could affect what your Autumn Hall home is worth, The Warwick Team can help. Get a Free Home Valuation & Local Market Consultation, and we'll walk you through it.
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