Shake Shack, Greene Turtle among 2024 College Park business additions

The College Park business scene is expected to change in the upcoming months as restaurants open and relocate.

New businesses slated to open in College Park this year include The Greene Turtle, Shake Shack and Chopt Creative Salad Company. Other businesses, such as Taqueria Habanero, Pho Thom and Insomnia Cookies will soon relocate.

The surge of new businesses is partly because of College Park’s unique demographics, which comprise both University of Maryland students and city residents, according to Michael Williams, the city’s economic development director.

Ice Cream Jubilee — an award-winning ice cream store with locations in Washington, D.C., and Virginia — was the most recent business to open its doors. Ice Cream Jubilee celebrated its newest location on Calvert Road in early September, according to a news release.

“That location was something we just felt so excited about,” Laura O’Shaughnessy, the chain’s chief marketing officer, said. “It’s such a wonderful, vibrant area.”

Tobias Thom, a College Park resident since 2020, has already visited Ice Cream Jubilee three times since it opened.

“It is the best thing that’s happened in a very long time,” he said.

[Here’s a look at the College Park business scene in 2024]

The Greene Turtle, a sports bar and grill, is set to open in the College Park Shopping Center in mid-October, according to Kevin Curley, the company’s culinary and concept development vice president.

Alexander Duncan, the branch’s general manager, said he hopes to establish The Greene Turtle as a go-to sports bar in College Park, competing with local favorites such as Looney’s Pub, Cornerstone Grill and Loft and R.J. Bentley’s.

The team is exploring hosting community events tied to this university’s home football game schedule, he added.

“We kind of want to put our footprint into the concrete right along with those other bars,” Duncan said.

Just yards away from The Green Turtle, Honey Pig Korean BBQ is also slated to open in the College Park Shopping Center soon, according to Williams.

Multiple eateries will also open in the commercial spaces of Union on Knox, a new apartment complex on Knox Road.

The new restaurants include Chopt, Shake Shack and Duck Donuts, according to Ken Ulman, president of the Terrapin Development Company and this university’s chief strategy officer for economic development.

Chopt and Shake Shack are both expected to open around the end of this year or early next year, while Duck Donuts will open later into next year, Ulman said.

Raising Cane’s is expected to replace Nando’s Peri Peri — which previously occupied the intersection of Knox Road and Route 1 — by August or September 2025, The Diamondback previously reported.

[Raising Cane’s set to open College Park location in 2025]

Some College Park businesses will relocate because of redevelopment in the area.

Pho Thom and Insomnia Cookies will move from their current locations on Route 1 and Knox Road to the Union on Knox apartment complex. Pho Thom will relocate after it was displaced by pending redevelopments around its location, Ulman said.

Additional retail establishments opening in Union on Knox will be announced later, Ulman said. Once all the businesses open and outdoor seating is added to the plaza, the area “is really going to be alive,” he added.

Northwest Chinese, located on Route 1, will also relocate because of the same redevelopment displacing Pho Thom, according to Ulman. The Chinese restaurant will reopen in the City Hall plaza on Route 1, in the site previously occupied by Taim Mediterranean Kitchen. The restaurant is expected to open in spring 2025, Williams said.

Taqueria Habanero is similarly opening a new College Park location on Route 1 after being displaced by LV Collective’s redevelopment of the Campus Village Shoppes complex, where the eatery used to be. The restaurant is projected to open in late fall or early winter, according to Williams.

“It’s really important that we work collaboratively with our partners in the city and the county government to make sure there are opportunities for those businesses that are being displaced to stay in College Park,” Ulman said.

On the retail side, Rally House, a sports apparel store, will open in mid-October at the site Target previously occupied on Route 1, The Diamondback previously reported.

As businesses relocate or move into College Park, it is an exciting time for residents, who will benefit from increased diversity in offerings, Ulman said.

“Having great retail options, food and beverage and apparel options, is a really critical piece of a great university community,” Ulman added.