By JALEN WADE
PHOTO CREDIT Lillian Glaros
At least half a dozen new eateries will open in College Park this year.
Among the newcomers are Compass Coffee, a District-based chain, which opened on Jan. 25, and MidnighTreats, a vegan cookie shop that opened on Feb. 8.
In addition, Primetime, a steakhouse, will come to Cambria Hotel College Park this fall; Raising Cane’s, a fast-casual chicken restaurant, will take over the space once occupied by Nando’s PERi-PERi; and Li Chun Café, by the owner of Northwest Chinese Food, wil open on the ground floor of city hall.
College Park’s economic development director, Michael Williams, said several additional restaurants are in negotiations with the city or exploring a move to the area.
And Duck Donuts and Chopt Creative Salad Co., two national chains that were expected to open in the new Union on Knox student apartment building last fall, are still in discussions to open locations there.
The city’s popularity with restaurants is “just, you know, the population,” Sydney Eubanks, the marketing director for Compass Coffee, said. “It is a very growing community. And no matter what, you know, UMD is a great school, and there’s constantly going to be a flow of people, whether that’s students or people that establish and start their careers there.”
Compass Coffee’s first Maryland location is at 4210 Knox Road, where baristas have a latte art print machine that can create foam designs as intricate as logos and selfies atop a cup of the brand’s “Real Good Coffee.”
Williams said College Park started growing as a destination for businesses once the University of Maryland (UMD) joined the Big Ten Conference in 2014.
Williams said sports fans often fill local restaurants after the games, spilling over from The Hotel at UMD, which is across the street from campus and houses GrillMarX, a steakhouse, Potomac Pizza, Bagels ’n Grinds and Iron Rooster, to Cambria Hotel up the street.
Cambria lost its flagship restaurant, College Park Grill, in 2023. Primetime is slated to open in that space in the fall.
“We haven’t had a full-service restaurant in [Cambria] for over a year or two,” Williams said. “We are really excited to get Primetime backed by a very, very experienced and well-funded restaurant group called the George Martin Group.”
The upscale restaurant will sell prime steaks, chops and seafood in a sports-themed atmosphere. Jeff Brainard, vice president of Southern Management Corp., which owns Cambria, called College Park “a city in a renaissance.”
“It’s really become a really solid community with grocery stores and shopping and retail, and now upscale dining,” Brainard said, noting Primetime “fits in well with what College Park is growing into.”
Also scheduled to open this year is Raising Cane’s, part of a fast-food chain that specializes in chicken fingers and Texas toast and will be located on the corner of Route 1 and Knox Road.
The owner of Northwest Chinese, the winner of College Park’s 2024 Business of the Year award, will open a new eatery called Li Chun Café in city hall this month.
The restaurant will feature dishes from chef-owner Hua Wang’s hometown of Shenyang City in Northeast China.
Cookie restaurant MidnighTreats opened at 4513 College Ave. on Feb. 8, awarding the first 20 customers in line on opening day with free cookies for a year.
Jordan Rutland, owner of the College Park store, said a goal of the franchise is to spread awareness for plant-based foods as a tasty alternative to treats containing eggs and dairy products.
“Our Maryland customers have been vocal about us needing to open a [Maryland] store and we are beyond excited to finally get the opportunity to join the College Park community,” Johnny Nguyen, founder of the MidnighTreats chain, said in a press release. “We can’t wait to become part of those late-night study sessions, celebrations and memorable moments in students’ lives.”
Williams said the city looks for businesses that fill the city’s needs and residents’ requests.
“During COVID, Maryland residents and anybody who visited here said, ‘Enough pizza shops’ to more pizza,” Williams said. “People in the same voices are saying we need … some access to urgent care. We need a little bit upscale, more shopping. We need a better experience as we go into these shopping centers.”
Councilmember John Rigg (District 3) confirmed that residents have asked for more general shopping stores. Rigg said the city has “plenty of attractive commercial space. …We have some decent vacancies, too.”
Rigg added: “I think we’re, if anything, an underserved market in terms of all kinds of retail, but it takes the right type of business to be able to make that work.”
Plus, he said, “I think we need to demonstrate that companies who have a strong concept, who can appeal to a resident base that includes both students and non-students, can be very successful in the city of College Park.