Restaurants, salons coming to CNU's new retail-housing complex
News Release - October 17, 2005
contact:
Karen L. Gill
karen.gill@cnu.edu
(757) 594-8428
 Caption: New restaurants and salons soon will begin opening on the first floor of CNU Village, a mixed-use complex on Warwick Boulevard across from Christopher Newport University. The complex already houses about 400 upper-class students. |
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — Salons and restaurants ranging from the well known to the unique are coming to Christopher Newport University’s new mixed-use retail and housing complex. CNU Village, which already houses about 400 students along Warwick Boulevard, has signed leases with the following businesses, according to Douglas L. Hornsby, chief executive officer of CNU Foundations:
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Schooners will serve salads, sandwiches, pizza and Greek specialties in a CNU- and nautical-themed restaurant and bar that features large plasma televisions, leather sofas and wireless Internet service, according to one of the owners, Theo Gouletas.
“It’s like a college deli, but more sophisticated and welcoming to the community,” said Gouletas, the general manager of Steve and John’s Steak and Seafood in Newport News.
Gouletas is opening the restaurant along with two of his longtime friends, Bobby Wharton, owner of the Crab Shack at the James River Bridge, and George Garosalis, one of the family owners of the Hot Dog King on the Peninsula.
“We saw the opportunity,” Gouletas said. “Since we live in the neighborhood, we saw that there was no where for us to go, you have to drive all the way to Jefferson. And we saw that the CNU students had nowhere to go either.”
Sushi & Spice owner Un Yong Kim, who graduated from CNU in December 2000 with a psychology degree, and her husband Jong Kim, will be serving Korean, Chinese and Japanese food. In addition, they plan to make lessons for those languages available on a laptop computer.
“We’re hoping it will be a cozy, new, modern atmosphere,” Un Yong Kim said.
The Korean couple are brainstorming other ideas for the restaurant, which they plan to open in January. Jong Kim is considering occasionally singing while he’s making sushi.
“He sings pretty much everything,” his wife said. “He’ll be a singing sushi man, I guess.”
Tiki Mon will offer tanning beds, a tanning dome, custom spray-on tanning and tattoos, manicures and pedicures, said its owner, Ronnie Long.
“It’s going to have a tropical, tiki theme, so it will be unique,” Long said. “That’s what’s going to set it apart -- that and the wide variety of services I’m offering.”
Long said that he wants to make sure that CNU students feel welcome.
“I want the students to feel like they are part of it,” he said. “It will have a picture board with photos of the regular customers, and a lounge area and Wi-Fi service.”
New to the Hampton Roads area will be Bottoms Up Pizza, an eclectic reflection of the original Bottoms Up Pizza in the Shockoe Bottom area of Richmond.
“Bottoms Up is unique because of its food -- the pizza is amazing,” said Christopher DeCapri, managing partner of Bottoms Up Development Co. “The crust is a special recipe that takes 10 to 12 hours to make. We also have an incredible red sauce. Our menu is more than just pizza, with many other wonderful items including great salads with our special in-house dressings.”
DeCapri said the restaurant decided to expand into CNU Village because of the growth of CNU and Newport News.
“Given the fact that the Richmond Times-Dispatch picked Bottoms Up Pizza as No. 6 out of 100 most recognized brands in our area, we realized that our pizza was known to more people than we thought, and it was time to expand on our concept,” said DeCapri. “Once the people in Newport News hear their friends talk about our signature pizzas and that one slice is one-fourth of a large pie, we feel we’ll become as popular here as in Richmond.”
The new businesses will begin opening after Thanksgiving, and all will be open seven days a week, with the exception of Sushi & Spice, which will be closed on Sundays.
Soon to be announced are the names of several other tenants planning to come to the Shoppes at CNU Village, including one that might occupy up to 4,500 square feet. The retail spaces, designed for CNU students as well as the community at large, are located in the first floor, with student residences above.
The complex houses about 400 upper-class students in 44 two-bedroom, 32 three-bedroom and 54 four-bedroom apartments. The apartments include private bedrooms and bathrooms, full kitchens, living rooms, washers and dryers, high-speed Internet access, basic cable and digital telephone service and reserved parking on the upper levels of the parking garage.
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Business and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. Visit us at www.cnu.edu.