A Five Guys hamburger restaurant is scheduled to move into downtown College Park this month, a company spokeswoman said.

The restaurant will take over the former Paperworks storefront on Route 1 near California Tortilla, which has sat vacant for more than two years.

College Park is one of many new locations for the Lorton, Va.-based chain that had only five restaurants, all in northern Virginia, as recently as six years ago.

Nearby towns of Laurel, Hyattsville and Greenbelt already have a Five Guys, but the College Park location is one of more than 30 new restaurants the company expects to open across the country within the next two months, joining 360 existing locations in 28 states, a spokeswoman said.

Five Guys spokeswoman Molly Catalano said this region is populated densely enough to support many franchises, noting the university made College Park especially appealing.

“College students and hamburgers seem to be a good fit,” she said, adding students coming from all over the country might already be familiar with Five Guys.

Though most Five Guys locations close at 10 p.m., Catalano said the company might keep the College Park location open later on weekends like it does at some other locations near college campuses. Its Georgetown restaurant is open until 3 a.m. on weekends, she said.

Five Guys has won regional awards for its large and reasonably priced hamburgers, and many students said they look forward to it opening in College Park.

Despite downtown’s multitude of restaurants, it’s not easy to find a “good, solid burger,” freshman letters and sciences major Steve Waldt said. “And when you’re drunk some nights, you really want a burger.”

However, Five Guys is no health food store, as sophomore English major Thomas McGath said, referring to its food as a “heart attack on a bun.”

McGath said he is more interested in another restaurant coming to downtown College Park this school year: Jason’s Deli, a Texas-based chain that focuses on healthy ingredients.

Jason’s Deli began renovating the former Wawa store in the College Park Shopping Center last month and expects to open in February, spokesman Daniel Helfman said.

The Jason’s Deli website notes the restaurant prides itself on offering food for customers with special dietary needs, for eliminating artificial trans fat, MSG and high fructose corn syrup from its products, and for offering a choice between large and small portions.

“Generation Y seems more knowledgeable about the food they’re eating than previous generations,” Helfman said, adding that the chain has been very successful in other college towns.

The College Park Jason’s Deli will also offer an all-you-can-eat salad bar and free delivery of orders costing more than $20 to anywhere on the campus until 10 p.m., Helfman said.

Though Helfman admits Jason’s Deli charges a price premium for its extra health factor, it is still competitive with such student-friendly restaurants as Chipotle.

“Not only do people see the value, but they see the value and the quality combined, and that’s why we’re so popular,” he said.

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