SPARKS –– A two-story building in Victorian Square will fall in December as city planners make way for downtown redevelopment.

The former home of Paddy and Irene’s Irish Pub, a convenience store and a few upstairs apartments at 1212 Victorian Ave. will be demolished by Empire Contractors. The contract for demolition was approved Monday by the Sparks City Council. Empire will be paid $41,725 to tear down the building.

The city bought out the building’s tenants over the summer, with Paddy and Irene’s Pub moving just down the street to 1218 Victorian Ave. The building was acquired by the city through eminent domain proceedings.

According to city redevelopment officials, the structure needs to be torn down to make way for redevelopment, which includes a north-south connector road, joining Victorian Avenue on the south with the Avenue of the Oaks on the north.

The building is not the first to fall under redevelopment plans. The wrecking balls got swinging in 2006 when the city acquired The Mint Casino and again in April 2008 when the city acquired the former Pacific Pawnbrokers location. Both buildings have been demolished.

If everything proceeds as planned, plans for the road and other redevelopment construction projects will be available for contractors to peruse as of Dec. 14, according to city staff reports. Bidding on the estimated $2.18 million project should open in January. Construction would start in the spring and finish by July 2010.

The job would install a north/south couplet road connecting Victorian Avenue on the south to the Avenue of the Oaks on the north. The new road would surround the existing Century 14 movie theater and the Victorian Square plaza.

Once the one-way road is complete, the city will be installing sidewalk, landscaping and lighting improvements to the area directly in front of the theater, enclosed by the street.

The city is also looking at including a gazebo or band shell in the plaza improvements. Whether or not this amenity makes it to the final bid documents is yet to be seen. These documents will describe the particulars of the project. 

“The idea is to install the road and the infrastructure, but not the expensive (decorative) stuff,” city redevelopment manager Armando Ornelas told the Tribune in October. 

According to city documents, the eventual plan for Victorian Square involves increased retail development as well as new municipal buildings, such as a new city hall. However, city officials said that this winter’s improvements will simply lay the groundwork for this future development. 

The road construction and infrastructure improvements will be paid for with a combination of city redevelopment funds and money collected from local room taxes.