Council rejects demolition hold, Shakespeare’s tear down moves forward

The demolition of Shakespeare’s Pizza in downtown Columbia will happen as scheduled. The Columbia City Council voted 5-2 Monday night against an ordinance that would delay the demolition of certain properties in town for six months.

The bill, proposed by former councilwoman Barbara Hoppe at her last meeting, would have applied to all properties on the National Register of Historic Places. While Shakespeare’s isn’t listed on it, downtown Columbia is, inducted in 2006.

City staff told the council that Shakespeare’s would be the only place affected by the change, if approved. McAlester Park, LLC, the owners of the property at Ninth and Elm Streets, applied for a demolition permit on April 1.

Kurt Mirtsching, manager of the pizza restaurant, said he hoped the council would reject the proposal. Shakespeare’s lease ends at the end of May, and Mirtsching said they will move into their temporary home on Eighth Street, in the old BBC II and Tin Can Tavern building, no matter the council’s decision on the moratorium.

However, the building isn’t suited for a pizza place, Mirtsching said. The kitchen is smaller, designed for a bar and grill, and he expects to lose money while there. Currently, the restaurant expects to move back in the summer of 2016, when crews complete construction at the corner.

“Passing a moratorium would keep us in the…location on Eighth Street for a second football season, and that would be a very real and substantial loss for us,” Mirtsching said. “The party’s going to continue, it’s just the box that it comes in is changing.”

Mirtsching also said the restaurant would preserve many of the signs within the store, as well as the bricks laid in the 1970s, for the new store. Mirtsching said Shakespeare’s will have a fifty year lease in the new building starting in 2016.