An upscale Japanese-inspired ice cream shop is coming to Hyattsville this winter.

Located in the Canvas Apartments at 3554 Baltimore Ave., Snow Crane will serve its unique style of minimalist sundaes and Japanese teas.

The restaurant is the brainchild of Takeshi Nishikawa, the former culinary director of Rose’s Restaurant Group, which includes the award-winning Rose’s Luxury and D.C. hotspots such as Pineapple and Pearls, and it has already attracted the attention of D.C. media.

One signature dish is a kinako ice cream made with roasted soybean flour dusted with kinako powder and drizzled with Okinawan black sugar syrup.

Snow Crane has held pop-ups around Route 1 as it looked for a permanent location before settling on Canvas. Nishikawa told the Hyattsville Wire that the space will probably be built out sometime between December and February.

A resident of Hyattsville, he said it made sense to go local, though the restaurant may also sell to D.C. stores.

“I decided to open an ice cream shop as a family person since the city could benefit from more high quality ice cream options,” he said.

Nishikawa moved to the area in 2021, joking that he wanted to wake up to the smell of Vigilante coffee beans roasting. He praised Route 1’s trails, affordability and proximity to D.C. as well as its strong local businesses including 2Fifty BBQ and Manifest Bread.

“There is a lot going on. This city is going to boom without a doubt. Last but not least, my wife and I are both into art,” he said. “At Snow Crane, we are going to be working very closely together with local artists from Pyramid Atlantic, Material Things and more.”

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Taqueria Habanero officially opened at its new location in College Park.

Located at 7410 Baltimore Ave. in the former Jimmy John’s location next to Marathon Deli, the new spot marks the end of a nearly two-year saga.

The popular D.C.-based Mexican restaurant, which opened a College Park location in 2018, was unceremoniously kicked out of its space in 2023 when the new owners of the shopping center announced they were tearing it down.

It then ran out of a food truck in front of its former location as the owners scouted area real estate.

The new spot right on the main drag of restaurants and bars serving University of Maryland students is good not just for the taqueria but also for the area, which has seen longtime locally owned businesses leave in favor of more chains in recent years.

Even better, the restaurant is located right next to Marathon Deli, another beloved locally owned institution which had to move due to construction.

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A renovated historic Mount Rainier building dating back to 1947 will soon be adorned with a new mural.

Situated at 3510 Rhode Island Ave., the 7,000-square-foot building will be entirely enveloped by a mural depicting a great blue heron and lotus flowers along the Anacostia River, created by the city’s 3711 Studios Artist Collective.

The design was selected following a community vote conducted by the city’s Arts Commission, securing an impressive 57 percent. The arts collective will receive $17,500 to finalize it.

Built in 1947, the building had remained mostly underutilized when Daniel Simon purchased it in 2019. He also renovated the Palmer Building in Hyattsville, where Vigilante Coffee is located.

The Mount Rainier building is now home to Station 3510, which exhibits local art and holds community workshops and art classes.

A representative of the Mount Rainier Arts Commission said they hope to get the process for creating the mural started soon.

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The Canvas Apartments in Hyattsville will hold a grand opening in June with a community art show and event.

Located at 5334 Baltimore Ave., next to the Hyattsville Armory, the multi-use development features 285 apartments and several first-floor commercial spaces.

Options include studio and one- and two-bedroom apartments ranging from 472 to 1,252 square feet. Rents start at $1,875 and go as high as $3,710 per month.

The grand opening will take place from 2 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 7. It will feature live music, guided tours of the apartments, the live painting of a mural that will become a permanent installation and pop-ups from local businesses.

From 2 to 5 p.m., the event will feature a vendors market with handmade goods, local artists and food. From 6 to 8 p.m., it will feature a Taste of Hyattsville with Streetcar 82 Brewing Co., Sangfroid Distilling, Cocineros and Spice 6, among others.

Akira Ramen & Izakaya has already opened on the first floor, and a Mathnasium location is planned.

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A Takoma Park art studio for children and adults is opening a second location in Hyattsville.

Located at 4214 Gallatin St., in the former CAMPspace location across the street from the Masonic Lodge, The Loft offers art classes for preschoolers through tweens and adults.

The classes typically meet weekly for six weeks and range from drawing to printing to sculpture and knitting. Courses for pre-schoolers meet during the day, while those for tweens tend to meet in the early evening.

The Loft also offers summer day camps, with each child limited to two weeks.

There are also BYOB nighttime classes for adults to get help with their own projects and experiment with new materials as well as onetime events on more complicated subjects such as gel plate printing or tapestry weaving.

The Loft began as Little Loft, a neighborhood art space in Capitol Hill aimed at young children, then moved to Takoma Park in 2015. After shutting down during the pandemic, it reopened as The Loft Collective in 2021 with expanded offerings for older students.

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The popular Le Fantome food hall in Riverdale Park has closed.

Since its opening in August of 2022, the food hall and ghost kitchen has been home to a rotating selection of popular eateries, including sushi and Korean, hot chicken, Mount Rainier’s J&J Mex Taqueria and James Beard-award winning Mr. Bake Sweets.

“This space has been so much more than just a place to eat — it’s been a home for creativity, community, and countless shared memories,” Le Fantome staff wrote on Instagram. “We’re incredibly grateful to every guest, team member, and vendor who made Le Fantome what it was. Thank you for the love, support, and delicious meals.”

Le Fantome has been part of a growing local restaurant scene, including miXt Food Hall in Brentwood and The Hall CP in College Park, Foodhini and Emma’s Torch Cafe in Woodridge and a number of food trucks.

The food halls are a crucial part of this ecosystem, giving budding restaurateurs a lower-stakes place to try out their concepts and build an audience that’s a step between a food truck and a sit-down restaurant.

Named after the French word for “ghost,” the 8,500-square-foot food hall and ghost kitchen facility was also a draw for the Station at Riverdale Park.

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Hyattsville’s arts district along Route 1 now features two striking new bus shelters. Their design showcases a dynamic swooping roof and curved metal frames reminiscent of Art Nouveau aesthetics.

One is on Jefferson Street next to the Armory building, and the other is on Baltimore Avenue in front of the new Canvas Apartments.

The shelters were paid for with a $50,000 public art commission from the Hyattsville Community Development Corp. in partnership with Urban Investment Partners, the developer behind the Canvas development.

While the shelters are artistic, they have several practical features, including three seating options: a space for a wheelchair, a short bench, and a higher seat.

(This is a nicer version of what is called “hostile architecture,” because the benches are designed to make it hard for a homeless person to sleep on them.)

The roof is made of translucent blue glass, letting sunlight in but providing some shelter from the rain and direct sun.

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