Pizza Autentica is moving into the University View II. The Italian restaurant is one of a number of new eateries and other businesses city officials expect to open soon along the Route 1 corridor.
New businesses are leasing retail space along College Park’s Route 1 corridor, both in long-vacant storefronts downtown and on the ground floor of newly constructed student housing complexes.
If all goes according to plan, the city should soon be gaining two new pizza places, a Mexican restaurant, a pub, a Royal Farms convenience store and a cafe complete with coffee and hookah, according to College Park Planning Director Terry Schum.
“The economic climate is hard, but I think what this says is College Park is a desirable location, and it has always been strong,” Schum said. “It’s a college town, and retailers and restaurateurs want to be here. And that’s just a positive sign.”
For Hakan Ilhan, the owner of incoming Pizza Autentica in the University View II, the student clientele attracted him to the city. In addition to serving traditional Italian cuisine — such as pizzas, pastas, Italian subs, paninis and homemade gelato — he will also apply for a beer and wine license in May and is set to officially open the restaurant’s doors July 1, he said.
“We feel that we will be a great addition to the area,” Ilhan wrote in an e-mail. “Pizza, pasta is not something new to the area but we will be presenting it in a very different way.”
And down the street, in the freestanding white building on the 7400 block of Route 1, another pizza parlor with a very different mission plans to open up shop — Naked Pizza will cater to the health-conscious pizza lover.
“It’s supposed to be au naturel, low cal pizza,” Schum said.
While the building is under lease, which Schum said she just learned of last week, an opening date is pending on the completion of the restaurant’s needed renovations. Ron Willoner — the landlord who also owns the building that will soon house Naked Pizza — could not be reached for comment.
“They want to open as soon as they can, but it’ll be a couple months,” Schum said.
Continuing down Route 1, onto Lehigh Road downtown, a new cafe and hookah bar plans to set up in the space CD-Game Exchange left vacant for the past year. Schum said she didn’t have specifics on the business.
Meanwhile, The Varsity at College Park apartment complex at 8147 Baltimore Ave. near the View, has leases for a Royal Farms convenience store and a Looney’s Pub featuring American-style cuisine, Schum said.
“[Looney’s] intend[s] to take in a liquor license, so they’re working with our attorney,” Schum said. “We’re working with them on a property use agreement regarding that.”
A new restaurant specializing in Mexican fare will also be opening up in the city. Schum said although she did not know the exact date, Azteca — located near the Mazza GrandMarc north of University Boulevard on the east side of Route 1 — has been renovating a space and should be opening soon.
“I checked them out a couple of months ago and their kitchen was still being worked on, but they had their dining area,” she said. “It is my understanding that this will be a very large space; they’ll have a bar area, coffee shop and a dining area.
Additionally, the city will see the return of Cluck-U in its previous location. Schum said it will serve as the model for the rest of the franchise’s restaurants.
“They’re going to have an updated look,” Schum said. “It will be a precursor of things to come in their chain.”
Some students, such as freshman mathematics and theater major Ben Polson, said while more eateries are always a welcome change to the city, they’d like to see something drastically different grace the downtown scene.
“A lot of the restaurants downtown are pizza, sandwiches or Asian food, and it sounds like it’ll be more of the same,” he said. “I’d be more impressed if their was a new category introduced, but I agree variety is always welcome.”
“Hopefully it’ll make this college town more vibrant,” freshman history major Tacy Lambiase added. “I think College Park needs to be more of a community — more of a variety.”
While the city’s high turnover rate remains at the back of students’ and residents’ minds, Schum said that it’s just a part of the risks in business.
“Sometimes there is turnover because certainly not all businesses can be successful,” she said. “But we’re always able to get somebody else in.”
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