When an electrical fire shuttered the doors of the College Perk at the end of June, bartender and manager Shea Hickman had no doubt the coffeehouse would reopen quickly.
“[Perk owner] Chris [Gordon] is one of these creatures that, once he puts his mind to it, it happens,” said Hickman, who has worked at College Perk for the past four years. “Chris is a survivor; I’ve never had a moment’s doubt that this place would reopen.”
What Hickman might not have foreseen was the facelift the Perk would receive while its doors were closed.
After the fire at the Perk, which opened in 2003, Gordon said damage covered by the insurance totaled “$10,000 to $15,000.” But while repairs to the Perk’s electrical system were made, Gordon decided to spend $5,000 to $10,000 out of pocket in upgrades to the restaurant, installing a new 12-burner stove and salamander broiler, revamping the server station, painting the store inside and out and even tweaking the menu.
Gordon made the repairs despite continued contention over ownership of the property. As reported by The Diamondback on June 12, Daria Land Group LLC is listed as the owner of the property the Perk is located on, and Daria has tried to evict Gordon in the past. Gordon acknowledged the Perk is involved in lawsuits with Daria over the land but said he does not expect the Perk to close.
“Just because you’ve got one bad thing going on in your life doesn’t mean you put all the other things on hold,” he said. “We will prevail in the case; it’s just a matter of how long it takes. It’s not an if, but when.”
Gordon has also been involved in a conflict with the city of College Park over the occupancy fees for the houses located behind the Perk, where several people who had been living upstairs at the coffeehouse moved after the fire. Gordon said he has refused to pay the occupancy fees for the properties – which he claims are higher than they should be – and said he expects to be taken to court to resolve the issue. However, that won’t affect the Perk, he said.
Bob Ryan, director of public services for the city, could not be reached for comment last night.
In addition to the physical refurbishing the store received, general manager Paul Baranson said the Perk revamped its menu, keeping the tapas-style dining options but adding more variety.
“Chris has been trying to push toward doing more upscale stuff, like seafood and wine dinners and wine tastings,” Baranson said. Gordon noted the restaurant is the only place he knows where a customer can get a filet mignon and eat it while sitting on a couch in shorts and Tevas.
The restaurant will also make an aggressive advertising push coinciding with the new opening, which will target the campus in an effort to get more students to the Perk, Baranson said. He plans on working with WMUC 88.1 as well as DC 101.1 to broadcast ads to students and the community at large, he added.
For the opening, Hickman said the Perk has used its e-mail list and word of mouth to reach customers. In addition, barista Neall Raemonn Price created a Facebook event for the opening; as of 11 p.m. last night, the event had 135 confirmed guests.
And when those customers venture to the refurbished coffeehouse during the next two days, their presence will confirm what Hickman noted was an important aspect in making the repairs and effort to reopen the Perk.
“We’re kinda blessed in the fact that people are actually interested in this business,” Hickman said. “This is home for a lot of people, and they’ve been waiting for their home to reopen.”
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