A long-vacant Pizza Hut at 53rd Street North and Maize Road is gone, demolished to make room for a new Casey's General Store.

Construction on the 4,300-square-foot Maize location at 5345 N. Maize Road is scheduled to start the week of Sept. 15, with an early 2027 opening, a Casey's spokesperson told the Wichita Eagle. The former Pizza Hut had sat empty for about 15 years.

The Maize store is one of three Casey's locations coming to Wichita's suburbs. A Kechi store is planned at 1451 E. Kechi Road, north of K-254 off 63rd Street and Woodlawn. A Bel Aire store will go up at the northwest corner of East 53rd Street and North Webb Road, near the Cedar Pass housing development. The three stores will bring the chain's Wichita-area total to 19.

Each location will create between 25 and 35 full- and part-time positions, the spokesperson said. Each store also represents a multimillion-dollar investment in building and land development.

Maize City Manager Nick Gregory said the Casey's could spark broader commercial growth along Maize Road, where he said several nearby sites would work for additional retail development.

"Our priority from a commercial standpoint is we'd like to see some more sit-down restaurants and entertainment-related venues," Gregory told the Eagle. "A microbrewery would be nice."

Gregory said the project is symbolic of the commercial development Maize is trying to attract along Maize Road toward K-96. The city previously had a Casey's near 45th Street and Maize Road, but that location closed several years ago.

In Bel Aire, the City Council voted unanimously on Sept. 1 to rezone the Casey's site from C-1 neighborhood commercial to C-2 development commercial, the Eagle reported. The suburb has no convenience stores within its city limits.

Bel Aire Mayor Jim Benage said at the Sept. 1 meeting that the property had never been developed and that the rezoning was appropriate.

Casey's, the nation's third-largest convenience retailer, announced a three-year plan on June 24 to add 400 stores nationwide. The Ankeny, Iowa-based chain has added more than 500 stores since 2023.

No opening timelines have been confirmed for the Kechi or Bel Aire locations.