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Many businesses, including restaurants, are feeling the effects of the recession, but Michael Gibbons of Mainstreet Ventures has high hopes that the time is right to open, not one, but two 8,000-square-foot restaurants at Annapolis Towne Centre in Parole.

In so doing, Gibbons and his associates are doing their part to boost the state's employment ranks, putting 250 to work at The Real Seafood Company and The Chop House, which are having their grand openings Wednesday.

The openings are a coming-home event for Gibbons, who lived in the Baltimore-Washington area as a child and is the brother of Annapolis Towne Centre developer Brian Gibbons.

The $500 million Annapolis Towne Centre was opened in October by Greenberg Gibbons Commercial of Owings Mills, and includes a 170,000-square-foot Target department store, one of the largest Whole Foods Market locations in the country, several office and condominium units, and a variety of other retailers and restaurants, according to information from the developer.

"My sisters and brothers have been encouraging me to bring my restaurant concepts to this area for years," said Michael Gibbons, chairman-elect of the National Restaurant Association, and president of restaurant company Mainstreet Ventures of Ann Arbor, Mich.

"The more I learned about the Towne Centre and the more research I did on this market, the more I knew that we could create totally unique restaurant concepts that would perfectly align with the area's needs and my company's commitment to quality and service."

The ribbon-cutting Wednesday is to be followed by a benefit dinner and silent auction to benefit the programs and services of the Hospice of the Chesapeake, which has locations in Annapolis and Landover.

The Real Seafood Company, which also has locations in Ann Arbor, Toledo, Ohio, and Naples, Fla., features a raw bar and separate sushi bar, as well as a lounge that will feature an automated wine station where guests can sample national and international wines — and an interior waterfall.

Directly above Real Seafood is The Chop House.