"Most residents use ride shares or walk to restaurants in our neighborhood." That line is in the June 2025 minutes of the Cannonborough-Elliottborough Neighborhood Association. It was the reason given for a parking variance for a new restaurant planned in the old YMCA building at 61 Cannon Street. Thirteen people attended that meeting, and all of them voted to support it.
The restaurant is now Kyn. When the Post and Courier reviewed it in September 2026, it called Kyn "part of a wave of new and forthcoming dining establishments flocking to the residential street." The paper's word for Cannon Street is "residential," and that is still true. The newest places on the street are moving into buildings that were already standing, each case is handled address by address, and the neighbors have been in the room for those decisions.
The Old YMCA Holds the Whole Story
The best place to see this is 61 Cannon. The brick building once housed a YMCA established in 1866. Tae Woo Lee and Peter Marcus now run Kyn there, serving hand rolls, sashimi and crudo. According to the Post and Courier, the room has a curved sushi bar near the host stand, a marble standing bar, a second sushi bar and a few tables with banquettes. Every signature hand roll is gluten-free. Lee and Marcus grow perilla, a relative of shiso, outside the restaurant and use it to garnish the hamachi crudo.
That parking variance had the neighborhood's backing from the start. A year later, the same building came back to CENA with a bigger request. At the July 6, 2026 meeting, attended by 22 people, a conceptual plan was presented to extend the rooftop at 61 Cannon. It included a small bar under a covered pergola, a bathroom addition and stair access.
This time the minutes show hesitation. Attendees raised concerns about adding a rooftop bar and asked about hours, late-night amplified music or DJs, and what future tenants might do with the extended roof. The minutes suggest the plan focus on no amplified music when it goes to the Board of Architectural Review, "especially late night (after 10pm)." They also suggest partially enclosing the rooftop to keep noise down.
The two meetings tell you how this street is being built. The neighborhood backed a restaurant inside an old building because its diners walk. The neighborhood then pushed back on the part of the plan that would carry sound past the building's walls. The rooftop is still a concept. The minutes record no approval, and the 10 p.m. idea was a neighbor's suggestion, not a city rule.
Every New Room Moved Into Something Already There
The same pattern holds up and down the block. None of 2026's arrivals on Cannon is a new building with a restaurant at street level and nothing else around it.
Two Blokes Brewing opened its downtown taproom at 114 Cannon on Aug. 11, on the ground floor of a 19th-century house. The Charleston City Paper reported that the house now holds a 50-seat taproom, a covered outdoor patio and a small brewing system for specialty and experimental beers. Owners Rhett and Haley Anderson bought Two Blokes in April 2023. The flagship has been at 547 Long Point Road in Mount Pleasant since 2016. Rhett Anderson described the goal to the City Paper:
"People want a neighborhood spot where they can go and are familiar with. We wanted to emulate that feeling and be an extension of home on Cannon Street and at our original location on Long Point Road."
A few doors down at 90 Cannon, Sonder Wine Bar + Retail Shop opened earlier this year. The Post and Courier described its setting as "surrounded by homes," with the Medical University of South Carolina nearby. Owners Michelle Kauczka and Jill Schenzel are longtime food and beverage professionals who wanted a place where "anybody with any level of wine knowledge or beverage knowledge can feel comfortable."
Alteño, the most anticipated opening on the street, will be on the ground floor of The Charlee on Cannon at 89 Cannon. The Post and Courier describes that building as a mixed-use project with eight rentals. People will be living upstairs from the hearth.
A Walk From 61 to 114, Address by Address
The new places sit beside restaurants that have been on these blocks for years. Here is the walk in address order, from King Street toward Rutledge, with two stops one block over on St. Philip.
- Kyn, 61 Cannon. Sushi and crudo in the old YMCA. The Post and Courier flagged the Tuna Fight Club, which pairs akami, chutoro and otoro so you can taste the difference, and the bluefin tuna cannolis made with fried wonton shells.
- Southbound, 72 Cannon. A live-fire restaurant that has been serving diners since Feb. 10, 2023.
- The Co-Op Frosé & Eatery, 81 Cannon. Frosé, sandwiches, smoothies and coffee. It was already open by May 2024, so it isn't part of the new wave.
- Alteño, 89 Cannon. Not open yet. Details are in the next section.
- Sonder, 90 Cannon. Wine by the glass or by the bottle, to drink there or take home, with bottles from Uruguay and the Republic of Georgia alongside Italy and France. It's open afternoons and evenings Wednesday through Monday, with happy hour from 4 to 6 p.m. and a back patio.
- Two Blokes Brewing, 114 Cannon. Flagship beers Wicked Throat Charmer, Umlaut and First Blood on tap, plus small-batch barrel beers sold only at this taproom. On Fridays, "Funky Friday" pours a bottle-only wine by the glass. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday.
One block over, Annie Mae's Bakeshop is at 185 St. Philip Street. Across the street at 186 St. Philip, Sorghum & Salt reopened in June 2025 after moving from Coming Street.
Almost every stop on this list closes by 10 p.m. or earlier, if the published hours hold. That is about the same cutoff neighbors suggested for amplified music on the 61 Cannon rooftop.
What the Street Is Still Waiting On
Several things on Cannon are announced but not finished. Each of them puts more activity next to homes.
Alteño. Johnny and Kasie Curiel of Fonda Fina Hospitality first set a summer debut, Holy City Sinner reported in April. The restaurant will serve food from Mexico's Jaliscan Highlands, with raw dishes inspired by cevicherías and an open hearth. The original Alteño opened in Denver in 2025 and is Michelin-recommended. By July the target had become "Early Fall 2026," according to WhatNow Charleston. The restaurant's Charleston page now says "COMING THIS NOVEMBER!" No reservation launch has been announced.
A second patio at Two Blokes. The City Paper reported that a patio planned for "later this fall" will add seating, another bar and several screens for football. We haven't found any report since early September confirming it has opened.
An evening dessert bar at Annie Mae's. In June, the City Paper reported that owners Jason and Annie Vieira planned an evening espresso-martini dessert bar. No launch date has been given.
The 61 Cannon rooftop. It is still at the concept stage described in the July minutes.
Of the four, only the rooftop has a documented neighborhood review so far, and the minutes from that review are what will travel with it to the Board of Architectural Review.
Where the Next Decision Gets Made
The pattern at 61 Cannon goes like this: a proposal comes to CENA, neighbors ask questions, and suggestions go into the minutes before the city's review boards see it. That is how anyone living on these blocks finds out what is coming before a sign goes up. As of this writing, the most recent minutes posted on CENA's site are from the July 6, 2026 meeting. They also note an Aug. 3 meeting to vote on a new slate of officers, and the association's suggested dues of $15 a year.
Those minutes cover more than restaurants. At the same July meeting, a developer returned with conceptual plans for 44 Morris Street. The plans include a corner store space and a restaurant space, and attendees held off on a vote until the number of units was clarified. The next street to pick up a restaurant may already be in the minutes.
At Crossman & Co, we keep up with CENA's minutes along with the restaurant openings on Cannon Street. If you'd like to talk through what's happening near your own address, from a planned rooftop to a new restaurant moving in, schedule your free consultation and we'll go through it together.
