After more than two years of operation, MilkBoy ArtHouse has closed. (Julia Nikhinson/ The Diamondback)

After more than two years of operation, MilkBoy ArtHouse — a music venue, restaurant and bar wedged between The Red Boat and TenRen’s Tea Time on Route 1 — said goodbye to its College Park location, just in time for the new decade.

In a statement released on its website Saturday, the venue — a partnership between the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and MilkBoy, a Philadelphia entertainment company — announced that it had closed. However, the location is expected to continue hosting shows The Clarice produces.

“It has been a pleasure working with everyone at the University of Maryland and partnering with them on this unique venture,” the statement from MilkBoy read. “We have loved our time in College Park, the community, and especially the people who became a part of our extended family.”

[Read more: UMD grad students talk research on Freddie Gray unrest, sea turtles at MilkBoy ArtHouse]



While The Clarice’s partnership enables it to continue shows at the location, events not associated with this university’s performing arts center are “actively looking for a new home,” according to MilkBoy’s website. Ticket purchases will be honored at the events’ new locations.

Terrapin Development Company, which owns the property, is currently looking for a new operator to partner with The Clarice, said company president Ken Ulman.

“From the beginning, we have aimed to add to the vibrant artistic community of Greater College Park,” the statement read. “MilkBoy helped pave the way for us to do that in new and innovative ways, and we are grateful for their years of partnership.”

It is unclear when MilkBoy decided to shutter its College Park location. Ulman said he heard it would be closing a few weeks ago, and former general manager Chris Libby said he heard about the possibility in mid-November. MilkBoy did not respond when contacted for comment.

[Read more: Bobby’s Burger Palace is the latest restaurant to leave College Park]

Workers were informed on Friday that the venue would be closing. They said they weren’t given a reason.

Mike Moran, a senior mechanical engineering major at this university who worked at MilkBoy, called the announcement “very, very abrupt.” The job was his first in the restaurant industry, and he said he valued the connections he made while working there. It’s how he met his girlfriend, Rachel Baeck.

Baeck, who worked at MilkBoy for about 10 months, said her “heart kind of sank” when she heard it would be closing.

“It’s just kind of like losing a major part of my life,” the junior kinesiology major said. “We were definitely a family.”