A downtown Columbia Pizza Hut closes, plans move to a new location. Here’s what to know
A downtown Columbia Pizza Hut location has closed, but the restaurant has plans to move to another spot nearby.
But first it needs a key permission from the city of Columbia.
The Pizza Hut at 1467 Sumter St. in the heart of downtown plans to move to 2400 Forest Drive, near the MUSC Health Columbia hospital. That Forest Drive spot is the former location an Asian Express and a Church’s Chicken.
Southeast Restaurants Corp. has applied for a special zoning exception to permit a Pizza Hut with a drive-thru at the Forest Drive spot. The matter is set to be considered at the July 6 meeting of the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals.
“We are closing the Pizza Hut at 1467 Sumter (Street) and moving to 2400 Forest Drive,” the corporation said in a zoning application filed with the city. “The new location will be primarily for carryout and delivery customers. We are asking for a special exception to put a drive-thru back in the building. There was a drive-thru in the building under its previous use as a Church’s Chicken.”
Google and Facebook listings for the Sumter Street Pizza Hut storefront note it as “permanently closed.” The Sumter Street address is no longer listed among the franchise’s Columbia locations on its website.
Southeast Restaurants Corp. said in its zoning application that it does not expect the planned Forest Drive location to cause any issues with traffic or vehicular backup in the area, since people most often place their orders beforehand then simply come through the drive-thru to pick them up.
The Forest Drive Pizza Hut location would be less than a mile east of the main campuses of Benedict College and Allen University.
