Forest Acres Restaurant Re-Opens After October Floods
Schiano's Fast Casual Dining reopened at the end of 2015 after it was devastated in the historic floods.
Columbia , S.C. (WOLO) — Schiano’s Pizza and Pasta Restaurant is back in business, after October’s floods brought water levels up to the middle of the entrance.
“All in all, what we found when we got in here was probably about 2-3 feet of water had been in the building,” said owner Frank Schiano.
Water from Gills Creek submerged several feet of the restaurant, leaving Schiano with a mess to clean up.
“We took all of our furniture out and got it re-upholstered and got the all the walls gutted and taken out from 4 feet on down, and wound up in a situation where we had to use dehumidifiers and treat it for mold before we could close the walls back up,” explained Schiano.
An 8 week clean-up and renovation process to get the restaurant open just in time for the holidays. Schiano said the community inspired him to keep going despite the floods devastation.
“We got in here and basically saw what we were dealing with and our neighborhood was full of people who were trying to help us and that just gave us more energy to keep going,” said Schiano.
Now open in time for the new year, Schiano is optimistic about the new beginnings 2016 will bring.
“We are trying to put 2015 behind us, we had some fond memories but it didn’t end up really, really well so we’re just regrouping and coming out to fight another day,” said Schiano. “I think that we just do what we do and the rest takes car of itself.”
