House of Pizza posted: “Great news everyone! We signed the paperwork on our new building today (Oct. 24). House of Pizza Clinton is officially reopening!! Our new home is 112 Musgrove St. Target date is January 2025!! We cannot wait to see all of you once again!!
“Thanks so much to Anita Gustafson, Dan Hall and the PC community, Clinton Mayor Randy Randall, the City of Clinton, The Clinton Chronicle, Laurens Advertiser, News Channel 4, neighbors, friends and family who all came to support us today. We are so excited for this new chapter to rise from the ashes and have new beginnings! House of Pizza Clinton is once again home.”
OCTOBER 24 - PC news release
House of Pizza to reopen in Clinton following purchase of 112 Musgrove Street from Presbyterian College
When fire destroyed and damaged several businesses in Clinton last August and the weeks passed, one question quickly came to the forefront for owners and customers.
What next?
For the owner of the House of Pizza on 120 Musgrove Street, which was entirely destroyed by the blaze, it was a question that yielded a fairly quick answer – just a few doors down.
House of Pizza proprietor Narmeen Abojamoos purchased 112 Musgrove Street from Presbyterian College with plans to reopen the restaurant at its new location by year’s end. Abojamoos said she is grateful for the opportunity to get back to normal – and grateful to everyone who helped make it possible.
“First of all, I am thankful for the firefighters and first responders who came to stop the fire and prevent it from spreading further,” she said. “I am thankful for my employees and miss my customers. They are all like family to me. I am also grateful to PC for being such a good partner and to the City of Clinton and the community for showing us so much love and support.”
With PC already committed to relocating Freshens from the downtown location to campus, the sale of the property to an existing business owner made perfect sense, said interim vice president for finance and operations Dan Hall.
“We heard rumors that Narmeen might be interested in the property, so we reached out and started a conversation and she quickly came back and said she wanted to buy it,” he said.
Though the fire caused some smoke damage to the property, there was no structural damage and should provide plenty of space for the new House of Pizza. The property closed on Thursday and both parties celebrated with a short “passing of the keys” ceremony the same day.
Hall said the transaction is a huge win for both parties. Clinton gets one of its favorite restaurants and the college gets to move forward with its plans for relocating Freshens – both of which are great for PC students.
“House of Pizza has a great history in this town as one of our ‘go-to’ restaurants for students, our athletes, visiting teams, and parents who come to visit their kids,” he said. “It’s great for the City of Clinton and great for the downtown.”
PC president Dr. Anita Gustafson also hailed the sale for benefitting the entire community. "I am so grateful that Presbyterian College and the House of Pizza could work together on an agreement that restores, in part, one of the businesses lost in the devastating fire last August,” she said. “This is such great news not only for them but for the City of Clinton and for PC. We wish the House of Pizza much success in their new location and hope they will remain part of our vibrant community for many years to come."
Abojamoos said she is eager to open the doors again soon.
“I can’t wait to see my customers again, and I promise we will rise from the ashes better than ever,” she said. — Presbyterian College
PREVIOUS
Dealing with the double whammy - Helene could take spotlight off restoring businesses following August 27 Musgrove Street fire
OCTOBER 9 - The Clinton Chronicle
House of Pizza has been a fixture in Clinton for 14 years. That is until an Aug. 27 fast-moving fire burned it to the ground. Its owner wants to rebuild, and she is committed to Uptown Clinton; but in the wake of the Sept. 27 arrival of Hurricane Helene, the focus of survival for Clinton has shifted to local houses and businesses.
By Oct. 5, power was mostly restored – although it was cut temporarily to South Broad Street (Whiteford’s, Dempseys etc) while other electrical work was done – and local groups were going about the business of feeding and supplying their neighbors. Narmeen Farhan and her family had their issues, just like we all did, but one of theirs may be different from ours – does Clinton want them back?”
“I had more than $1 Million invested in my restaurant. I love my customers. Newberry wants me – they have a building for me. But it’s not downtown. I want to be in Downtown Clinton,” Narmeen said in an interview at The Chronicle on Thursday.
“I’m going to need your help, Chris, with advertising. I’m going to need your help, Vic, with writing,” she says. “Think in the future. Open a new business, and I want you all at the grand opening.”
And she is going to need A LOT of help to do that with insurance, clearing her lot, and finding an Uptown Clinton location.
The Chronicle has some ideas about this rebuilding and restoring a local thriving business, and we plan to present those in our Oct. 16 issue.
For now, Narmeen does not want to dwell on “what could have been” – her daughter had just left the restaurant for dance in Laurens, her laptop and personal items were lost; her brother jumped 20 feet to the ground from their burning, wooden back deck – and is looking instead at what is right in front of her. An ongoing State Law Enforcement Division investigation. An estimate that she considers to be too high to clear out all debris from the four buildings that were burned. The loss of ovens and dough kneading machines, and the lack of money to replace all that equipment. The fact that insurance adjusters are going to be tied up all over Western South Carolina in settling claims.
“We had just restocked all our liquor,” Narmeen said. “It is all gone.”
But, she is equally confident – “Our plan is to be open before Christmas.”
How? That is unknown.
“My heart is here,” Narmeen says.
Her Clinton customers. Their Laurens Academy family. The House of Pizza in Laurens – two businesses less than 10 miles from each other, who can rely on each other. She doesn’t want to lose all that, because of a spark.
Or, whatever caused the fire.
It was a beautiful building. Perhaps not appreciated as much as it should have been by Clinton – it’s always there, it’s always been there. They just put up a beautiful neon sign, that still needs to be paid for. They had asked the City to relocate a small tree that blocked the sign, and took up a very valuable parking space on Musgrove Street.
Narmeen was cleaning in the restaurant that day. She smelled smoke. She searched and asked the staff to search. That led her to the back door. Luckily, she did not step through the threshold – she would have landed in the fire. Mo went to her right, onto the porch. “A fireman was there – he told him to ‘jump or die’,” she said. Customers evacuated. Everybody got out of the adjoining businesses – Hoyt Hanvey Jewelers, Aspen & Figs, Family Eye Care and Kingdom Builders. Looking at House of Pizza, to the left, the fire stopped at Hoyt Hanvey; to the right, the fire stopped at Freshens, PC’s healthy options, off-campus restaurant.
When Presbyterian College renovated this building to be a book store, it was brought up to modern codes – its firewall stopped the inferno from engulfing what used to be Jitters, the Steamers restaurant, a real estate business, and Stogie’s cigar bar.
This massive blaze could have – probably should have – “taken out the whole block.” Narmeen could do nothing but watch it burn.
Watch her investment go up in flames. Then, it came to her. “No one was hurt. Money is nothing.”
Chip Cooper, local businessman, renovated this building which used to be Roses and before that The Bee Hive, and he also had to watch it burn on Aug. 27.
“It was beautiful,” he said.
Cooper has spearheaded renovations that allowed Family Eye Care to go into another building on Musgrove Street, and Hoyt Hanvey Jewelers has announced its intention to re-occupy its building.
Cooper is one of four Upstate investors trying to cement a project to turn his building, the Industrial Supply location, into apartments, which would be a $5.8 Million shot in the arm for Clinton. It hinges right now on a $500,000 investment in a public parking lot that would benefit the City and would make available parking to the apartment residents.
“Clinton needs some good news,” City Manager Tom Brooks told the board of the Laurens County Development Corporation as he asked for an investment of $250,000 in this project from an infrastructure fund. It was initially referred to the finance committee.
Narmeen knows about the prospective project and supports it; but she also wants these urban apartment dwellers three blocks from her former location to become HER restaurant customers and, hopefully, regulars.
She will look you right square in the eye and say, “I am fighting to build my business back.” — Vic MacDonald
