94th Aero Squadron is Closed (UPDATED)
May 7th, 2009 | by Clay Gump | Published in Businesses | 15 Comments
94th Aero Squadron is now closed due to water damage sustained back in February.
For those of you that do not know the 94th has been in College Park for many years. It is located at 5240 Paint Branch Pkwy (see map below the break) and it filled a need in the area for a “table cloth” style place to eat. The 94th is officially on property owned by the M-NCPPC and has a long term lease agreement. The restaurant itself if run by a company called Specialty Restaurants Corporation based out of Anaheim CA.
The place used to do a very steady business however after September 11 the planes from/to College Park Airport was severely restricted and that probably reduced traffic somewhat.
Have you been there lately? What were your impressions? Hopefully it will open up again in the not to distant future. We will let you know if we hear of any progress.
UPDATE: Not 10 minutes after I posted this entry one of our crack staff members send the Diamondback Article on the closing. Maybe I will double his salary.
Floods sideline Aero Squadron restaurant
By: Brady Holt
Posted: 2/3/09
Two unrelated floods have left the 94th Aero Squadron restaurant by the College Park Airport indefinitely closed, the restaurant’s office manager said.
A pipe in the restaurant froze and burst in mid-January, and a defect in its sprinkler system left the building with two feet of standing water Sunday and “severe water damage,” office manager Erin Keegan said.
The restaurant, one of the few upscale dining establishments in the city, is located on Paint Branch Parkway. College Park City Council members frequently bemoan the lack of non-chain, sit-down restaurants in the city, which is dominated by student-friendly chain, fast food and takeout restaurants.
“It’s a unique place in College Park to eat, in that it has such pleasant surroundings,” District 3 Councilwoman Mary Cook said.
Keegan said the restaurant would definitely reopen.
“We’re undergoing restoration at this time,” Keegan said. “We don’t have a date at this time for reopening, but we are reopening.”
She added it would be at least two weeks before the restaurant’s management can even determine the extent of the damage from the flooding and estimate when renovations will be complete.
The restaurant, which is a popular venue for groups and events, had not updated its website to reflect the closure.
Keegan said management put a sign on the restaurant’s front door to inform customers of the damage but said the website is controlled only at the restaurant chain’s corporate level.
Calls to the California-based Specialty Restaurants Corporation, which owns the 94th Aero Squadron chain, were not returned yesterday.
May 7th, 2009 at 10:14 am (#)
I’m wondering if they will not reopen at all. A quick browse of the corporate website shows that the College Park 94th is not listed anywhere.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:08 am (#)
My wife and I were talking about that restaurant just yesterday! It sure was a break from the chains and refreshing that you could get that atmosphere in northern Prince Georges County. I hope it either reopens, or if not, something more modern, yet still “upscale” takes it’s place.
May 12th, 2009 at 9:14 am (#)
Well, another space ripe for development.
May 12th, 2009 at 10:17 am (#)
I think the 94th would be a fine place for the new Lasicks.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:57 pm (#)
I think it would be a good place for a new owner like one of the restaurants in Northern VA, the Carlyle Grand Cafe in Arlington…
September 8th, 2009 at 5:40 pm (#)
So, it’s now September. Any word on what’s happening with this restaurant?
September 9th, 2009 at 10:11 am (#)
Greenbelt Gal.
They are not coming back. Evidently they opted out of their lease. No word yet on who/what will move in. I did hear that the Airport museum was interested in the property.
September 24th, 2009 at 6:20 pm (#)
Oh, how disappointing. We were just heading to IKEA in College Park and I wanted to take my husband here for dinner, and checked the website for the address. What a shame. It was a wonderful place and I enjoyed the ambiance very much. Thanks for posting updates for those of us who are out of the area.
October 1st, 2009 at 10:17 am (#)
Visited last week, No antique planes, no work going on. Looks like the park land will retake the property. Will miss the 94th.
October 1st, 2009 at 10:20 am (#)
Visited last week, No antique planes, no work going on. Looks like the M-NCPPC will retake the property. Will miss the 94th.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:02 am (#)
Ah, I should’ve figured there’d be a thread about this…
Latest update seems to be that College Perk is running a petition at http://the-perk.com/ to convince M-NCPPC to let them take over the space.
I’m skeptical of the success they’d have there, especially as ambitious as their plans sound, but I’m all for anything in CP that isn’t another high-rise.
I have to say I agree that this would be a much better space for Lasicks. As long as they get both fire and flood insurance.
Anything but another high-rise…
October 8th, 2009 at 5:50 am (#)
The only other time I have been at a 94th was in the 70s in Colorado when I was in the Air Force. I had driven by and seen the sign, over the last 15 to 20 years in College Park, but never stopped in because I was by myself, or too busy. I finally got a chance to go yesterday. NUTS!
This has to be a great loss to the area.
November 5th, 2009 at 2:25 pm (#)
Another local business owner considering the property is Mike Franklin (Franklins of Hyattsville)
November 6th, 2009 at 11:20 am (#)
Really? They just poured a ton of cash into the existing Franklins. Wouldn’t two location so close tend to eat into each other business? (pun intended)
November 9th, 2009 at 1:36 pm (#)
I had not heard of the restaurant closing. Stopped by to use the park yesterday and then have dinner afterward and was surprised to see the place as dark as can be. I bet their business was so bad that they figured it would be too costly to renovate and open back up. Too sad !