Downtown chicken eatery Wata-Wing suddenly closed for good yesterday after just five months of business in College Park.
Behind a badly cracked front window, the restaurant now stands devoid of any cooking equipment, and unopened mail is scattered on the floor. Although owner Kulin Amin could not be reached for comment, a note on the door indicated the restaurant’s failed to pay last month’s rent. But the space will not stay vacant for long.
Vito Riccio, the 27-year-old owner of Vito’s Pizzeria and a 2005 university alumnus, plans to knock down the wall between his restaurant and Wata-Wing and take over the lease, nearly tripling the size of his business.
He has already begun negotiations with the landlord and has ideas to eventually turn the bigger space into a nighttime hotspot featuring a more extensive menu, a bigger kitchen, a beer and liquor license and live music. He plans to sign the lease by the end of the week and have his new downtown hangout open by the first day of classes next semester.
“I don’t want to be like Cornerstone [Grill and Loft], [R.J.] Bentley’s or Thirsty Turtle,” Riccio said. “That’s not what I’m going for.”
Riccio is looking to carve out a unique niche in the city.
“I want that lounge feel, but I want it to be able to cater not only to college students but families as well,” he added. “But come nighttime, I want it to be the bumping spot [my restaurant has] become.”
Though brimming with confidence, even he admits the plan is a gamble.
“I’m a risk taker,” Riccio said. “I have a good business plan and I do what I say.”
Among the obstacles are higher costs, obtaining more permits, clearing liquor licenses with the city and a whole new brand of competition from the well-established downtown bars. To top it off, Ledo Restaurant is moving from its Adelphi location into the basement of the city’s parking garage this summer. Its liquor license was approved last month.
“Ledo’s is bringing something completely different to the table,” Riccio said. “I don’t think the chain always has to win. Am I little worried? Absolutely. But at the same time, I don’t think they’re going for the same clientele.”
As for Wata-Wing, its short reign in College Park is over without so much as a peep.
The city’s economic development coordinator Chris Warren said that he spoke to management a few times about parking issues, but it gave no indication the restaurant was struggling.
“Some places, the rent is just too high,” Warren said. “And there’s some competition. There’s only so much you can do.”
Wata-Wing is approximately 1600 square feet and, according to the sign on the door, its monthly rent was $4548.54.
“It’s just kind of unfortunate,” Warren said. “It’s not like the city’s ignoring it, there’s just very little that we can do to rectify the situation.”
With improved groundskeeping and landscaping in downtown College Park, better traffic patterns and a new 288-capacity parking garage, Warren said the city has done all it can to make eating downtown convenient and pleasurable.
Riccio, who opened his restaurant only a month after Wata-Wing, said expanding just next door would increase exposure immensely. He added that his restaurant is hardly visible from Knox Road and the College Park Shopping Center parking lot due to its awkward corner angle.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s great to see that he’s doing it,” Warren said of Vito’s imminent expansion. “It’s hard to find space that you can just fit in. There’s only so much space.”
Warren explained that it’s a rarity to see a restaurant keep its same location and expand because vacancies are rarely open in adjacent restaurants, and if they are, they get filled quickly. He also cited the high concentration of restaurants in the area.
Few students seemed disappointed by Wata-Wing’s closure. Some students said when a restaurant fails to be profitable, it’s a sign from the student body that the restaurant isn’t liked.
“I never thought it was that good,” freshman business major Mitch Giller said. “It all depends on the fluctuation of the students.”
Though the circumstances behind the closing are still unclear, other student’s reactions to the news of the closing, like that of Germanic studies graduate student Tom Hildebrandt, seem to point to an apparent answer:
“I didn’t even know it was there.”
rhodes at umdbk dot com
