The Pita Pit owners are pushing to keep their venue open until 4 a.m. as University officials evaluate student support for the Ivory Tower sandwich shop.

More than 500 students have signed a petition to keep The Pita Pit open two hours later than its current closing hour, 2 a.m.

The Pita Pit owner Daniel Corno said that although standard dinner hours are the venue’s busiest time, there is generally someone waiting to be served at all hours.

Students who frequent The Pita Pit are also unsatisfied about its current hours of operation.

“When I get back at 2:30 on Thursday nights, I’m starving and nothing is open in D.C.,” sophomore Manish Patel said. “I eat at The Pita Pit during the day, and I would eat there late at night if it was still open.”

The Pita Pit managers have also complained that the Ivory Tower’s main entrance is locked to non-residents after midnight. University officials said the side doors can be used as an entry for those who cannot swipe into the building; but The Pita Pit managers are upset that students cannot get to their eatery through the main entrance of the building at all hours.

“We are still getting complaints about the doors to Ivory Tower,” Corno said. “They are supposed to remain open; however some students can’t get in after 12.”

Managers of the venue even taped a makeshift doorbell to the entrance of the building, promising to let in students seeking late-night food.

Louis Katz, GW’s executive vice president and treasurer, said the venue’s success will have to be evaluated before its hours of operation can be adjusted.

“If the demand’s there, we will expand it,” Katz said.

The University would have to pay additional maintenance and security costs for the venue to stay open later, Katz said. “Security is always a very important issue with us,” he added.

Katz said his office has not received a formal request from The Pita Pit to extend its hours but would evaluate anything submitted. However, informal verbal negotiations are currently taking place between the University and The Pita Pit owners.

Besides University administration approval to stay open later, facility management and residential life representatives also have to clear the proposed hours. The Pita Pit owners must convince all parties that staying open later is beneficial to everyone.

Many students said they are in favor of the proposed hours of operation.

“Keeping the The Pita Pit open later will not only increase profits, but it will satisfy a large student need for food during late hours,” freshman Jake Greenberg said. “I usually just walk to 7-Eleven, but if The Pita Pit were open I’d much rather throw back a fried pita.”

Despite student support, Corno said GW probably will not consider later hours until next semester.

“Keeping The Pita Pit open later is a much more complex issue then the students think,” Corno said. “We haven’t even begun written negotiations, or looked at the lease.”

-Michael Barnett contributed to this report.