For 23 years, Mike Franklin’s commute was two blocks, but soon he will have to balance his restaurant in Hyattsville with an upscale dining establishment in College Park.
Franklin, the owner of Franklins Restaurant, Brewery and General Store, will be opening a type of restaurant he said College Park lacks.
“Even though I am very proud of what we do in Hyattsville, we are still are not a fine-dining experience,” Franklin said. “We are more of a friendly environment. There is room for at least one fine dining restaurant in northern Prince George’s County. Nobody has stepped up to do it, so we did.”
The name has not been finalized, but for now, he is referring to it as Franklins Grill and Oyster Bar. The restaurant will be located underneath The Hotel at the University of Maryland, a luxury four-star hotel and conference center along Route 1 set to open in January 2017, according to its website. Franklin said the restaurant will open a few weeks before the hotel officially does.
Southern Management Corporation, the hotel’s developer, thought Franklin could provide an upscale restaurant while appealing to the local community, said David Hillman, the company’s CEO.
“Mike is a very good businessman and is well-known and respected throughout the community,” Hillman said. “He has the right mix of customer service and professionalism.”
Franklin said the restaurant’s menu will be driven by local seafood and steaks, but the restaurant will also have its own bakery to make pies and biscuits, among other items. He said he wants to have a variety of options to offer a unique experience.
“There’s no wine bar in College Park, no craft brewery or cocktail bars, so we are going to have a big program in all three of those areas,” Franklin said. “We are going to be doing a lot of things in College Park that no one else has been doing up to this point.”
However, Franklin said he is going to stick to what allowed him thrive in Hyattsville for more than two decades: catering to the community and drawing a healthy mix of customers.
“It will be similar to the current Franklins in the sense that we will get a little bit of all kinds of demographics,” he said “It’s not going to be just aimed at the out-of-state people coming in or people from the University of Maryland.”
Hyattsville Councilwoman Paula Perry said she thinks Franklin’s new restaurant will have a fluid transition into College Park.
“It will fit in College Park fabulously,” Perry said. “His restaurants have a lot to offer. Mike knows how to run a business and enhance the experience for his customers.”
Michael Stiefvater, College Park’s economic development coordinator, said the restaurant will fill a void in the city.
“It is really good that they are trying to develop nicer places around College Park,” said David Fisher, a freshman enrolled in letters and sciences.
As he did 23 years ago when he first opened Franklins as a deli, Franklin said, he is looking out for the community.
“I looked at what the community needed,” he said. “We will be doing a lot of things that they have not had.”
