Former Pizza Hut Getting New Look, New Mission In Brick

BRICK, NJ — For about 30 years, the familiar little red hut with the brown roof on Brick Boulevard served up Pizza Hut pizza to thousands of people.

Now the former restaurant is being transformed into place that will serve the community in a different way.

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A coat of white paint on the exterior of the former Pizza Hut caught residents' attention recently. It is part of renovations to the property by the Destiny Community Development Corp., which aims to turn it into a thrift shop.

The group operates the Destiny Community Thrift Shop at 242 Brick Blvd., and New Beginnings Christian Fellowship next door at 236 Brick Blvd.

According to site plans and information filed in an application to the Brick Township Planning Board, the group aims to move its thrift shop operations from the current site to the former Pizza Hut, once renovations are complete and the group has received all the necessary approvals.

The current thrift shop, meanwhile, would be converted to a counseling center, teen center and coffee shop.

Emails seeking details from Destiny Community Development Corp. and New Beginnings Church officials were not answered.

According to the application, the changes to the Pizza Hut site consist primarily of the interior renovation, improvements to handicap access and improvements to the landscaping and the exterior of the property, which has not been active since the restaurant closed.

The thrift shop would have 61 parking spaces, and a variance is needed because the spaces would be smaller than the required 10 feet-by-18 feet. It also requires a variance because they are seeking to post more than one wall sign, according to the documents.

For the conversion of the current thrift shop, the group has submitted an application to the Brick Township Board of Adjustment. It seeks a parking variance for 92 spaces, where 185 are required, according to the documents. The information notes the 92 parking spaces is the existing condition at the site, where New Beginnings Christian Fellowship has been operating since before 2010.

The group has owned the church property since 2007 and the current thrift shop site since 2009.

It became the center of a legal fight when the Brick Township Board of Adjustment rejected a 2010 proposal by the church to add the teen center, a food pantry and merchantile business to the property at 236 Brick Blvd.

After two rejections by the zoning board, in 2011 and 2013, the church sued Brick over comments made by a council member and over actions by the then-zoning board president. That lawsuit was settled in 2016 for $237,000.

Hearing dates for the applications to be presented to the planning board and the zoning board have not been advertised as of May 14.