2 national restaurant chains set for former San Jose site on Columbia’s Forest Drive
A pair of well-known national restaurant chains are headed to a new development on busy Forest Drive in Columbia.
A Starbucks coffee shop and a Chipotle burrito joint are planned for an under-construction retail development at 5400 Forest Drive, near Forest Acres, according to Cason Development CEO Frank Cason. That’s the former location of a San Jose restaurant, which closed in March and moved to Sparkleberry Lane in northeast Columbia. The San Jose building was demolished to make way for the new development.
The Chipotle should be open later this year, Cason told The State, while the Starbucks will likely open in early 2025. There is a third spot available in the burgeoning development, and Cason said businesses are being courted to occupy that space.
Forest Drive has consistently been a bustling retail and commercial corridor, just west of Interstate 77 and the U.S. Army’s Fort Jackson training installation. About 29,000 cars per day travel down Forest Drive near the site where the Starbucks and Chipotle will be located.
“Forest Drive is one of the most active retail areas in the city right now,” Cason said. “There is very, very little vacancy opportunities where retailers can go. So, we saw an opportunity to reposition that property by tearing down that old building and building a new retail center there.”
Starbucks and Chipotle being initial tenants at the development was first reported by The Post and Courier.
Both national companies enjoy a robust presence in the Midlands. There are currently eight Chipotle locations across the area. Meanwhile, there are more than 40 Starbucks coffee shops across the Midlands, according to a store locator tool on the company’s website.
This story was originally published July 30, 2024 at 12:04 PM.
