The Number 1 Liquor store in front of the University View on Route 1 could be torn down and turned into a city-owned park.

The store has become popular with View residents, but many College Park City Council members said at last night’s council meeting that creating a small park on that stretch of Route 1 would be more in line with their redevelopment vision for the area than the small liquor store — one of three within walking distance of the View.

“It’s been an eyesore for a very long time,” District 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich said. “Putting a park there would go a long way to improving the appearance of the Route 1 corridor.”

The council voted last night to try to buy the property or to try to get it condemned if its owner refuses to sell. Some View residents said they would miss the store’s convenient location and were skeptical of plans to create such a tiny park.

But three of the eight council members opposed the measure, saying the city does not yet understand what the property is worth, does not necessarily need another park and should not be publicizing its last-resort condemnation plans before even approaching store owner Anuj Kapur or property owner Annette Sargeant.

“I think we’re going to set a very bad precedent, and what we’re doing instead of encouraging businesses to come to College Park is scaring them away,” said District 4 Councilwoman Mary Cook, who voted against the plan alongside District 4 Councilwoman Karen Hampton and District 2 Councilman Jack Perry.

District 1 Councilwoman-elect Christine Nagle, who will be sworn in next Tuesday, also said she disagreed with the city’s move against a business it just doesn’t like.

“We’re just starting Route 1 redevelopment,” Nagle said. “How many little parks are we going to have? Every time someone doesn’t make a deal?”

Kapur took over the decades-old liquor store a few years after graduating from the university in 1992 and said last night he only learned of the city’s plans from a reporter’s phone call.

“I’m completely surprised by everything,” Kapur said. “Of course if they’re going to make a decision on my business, they should notify me this is coming.”

Sargeant, the property owner, couldn’t be reached for comment late last night.

The council had been discussing its plans at several closed meetings over the past few weeks, including one before last night’s public meeting.

Number 1 Liquors is particularly convenient for University View residents and is sandwiched between two more planned student apartment buildings: the Varsity at College Park to the south and the University Overlook to the north. While no one doubts it’s a great location for a college town’s liquor store, some View residents say it might not work well as a park.

“I mean, it’s right near the road, so who would be able to enjoy a park that’s right there?” said Kim Edwards, a junior history major. “I think it’s kind of pointless because it’s so small and it’s surrounded by really ugly buildings. It needs to be in a quiet place to really enjoy it.”

The city has long planned another park, dubbed Northgate, that would be behind the student apartment buildings along Paint Branch Creek, but this park would be a break in a stretch of Route 1 that as planned will be fronted by high-rise apartment buildings.

The city has spent the better part of a decade trying to encourage a developer to build something on the Number 1 Liquors site, but neither View developer Otis Warren nor Varsity developer Mark Vogel bought the property — council members disagreed on whether those developers had tried.

Earlier this year, Mayor Steve Brayman jokingly asked Vogel to accidentally destroy the store. “Drop your crane on it,” he said.

But this new city plan, proposed by District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin, is the first effort to make the liquor store a publicly owned space. Catlin emphasized at last night’s meeting that he doesn’t know how soon anything might happen.

“It’s a process that could go to court,” he said. “It’s a process that could take a year or more; it’s a process that could go very quickly. This is the beginning of the process, not the end.”

bholt at umdbk dot com