College Pizza set to expand

College Pizza, the take-out pizza place located next to Cinemagic on the 3900 block of Walnut Street, will be expanding to a full-scale pizzeria later this spring. The pizzeria is retaining its current location but will also move into the 1,200-square-foot space next door, vacated by Baskin Robbins last summer. The additional space will be used for tables, customers and visibility. College Pizza manager George Ballouz has been talking to the University about expanding the business, which is owned by his brother, since Baskin Robbins closed nearly seven months ago. The brothers officially acquired the space last week and are working with an architect to submit renovation plans to University and city officials within the next few weeks. Ballouz hopes to open the expanded facility in early April. "I hope to open it before the students leave," he said. "But I don't know if it's possible. Time-wise, it'll be tight." Ballouz plans to use College Pizza's existing space as a kitchen and retain the Baskin Robbins freezer space. The majority of the expanded area will be used for seating and display. The restaurant will most likely have counter service rather than waiters. College Pizza also plans to maintain its delivery business both during and after renovations, using the wall between the two spaces as the perfect separation during construction. "We aren't planning on interrupting any of our operation during construction," Ballouz said. "There won't be any downtime because most of the changes in decor will be on the other side of the wall." College Pizza hopes to attract larger numbers of students to its newly expanded facility. Ballouz is "still flirting with ideas," such as painting murals on the walls and adding specialty items to the menu, like milkshakes and desserts. "We're trying to provide a friendly place for students to hang out and have good food in a nice atmosphere, which I can't provide in the space we have." The two Ballouz brothers bought College Pizza three years ago and have been hoping to expand ever since. "Now, I think we have the time and resources to do it right," Ballouz said. University officials said that they are eagerly anticipating College Pizza's expansion. Anthony Sorrentino, spokesman for the Office of the Executive Vice President, said that "it will give people on the north side of campus a pizza place to counterbalance Allegro Pizza on the south side." "It makes so much sense with the movie theater nearby," he added. Lisa Prasad, associate vice president for business development, agreed. "Hopefully, this will enhance business to that area," she said. Prasad said she is not worried about competition with other eateries nearby, such as the Philly Diner or Izzy and Zoe's. "This is such a specific niche," she said. They are all good cotenancies that don't cannibalize each other," she said. Ballouz echoed Prasad's sentiments. "I'm not here to compete with other places; I'm here to provide good food at a good price," he said. "I'm not concerned with other people. I just want to please my customers." And his customers seem to be satisfied. College junior Alyssa Neir, who has picked up food at College Pizza, said that she would stop and eat there "because it's convenient and only a few blocks away." The seating space is an additional bonus for her because "most pizza places don't have a place where you can sit down." College freshman Kelly Mangold agreed, saying, "We need another pizza place besides Allegro's."

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