Could A Popular Iowa City Pizza Restaurant Be Forced To Move?

A historic Iowa City building is up for sale, and it could mean one of the Corridor's most popular pizza restaurants has to find a new home.

The Little Village Magazine reports that last month the building located at 302 East Bloomington Street in Iowa City was put up for sale. It was put up for sale by the owner, Gary Skarda. The building has been in his family for 145 years. But, Skarda told The Daily Iowan that due to his advancing age and ongoing medical issues, he needed to sell the building. The property, valued at just over $1.5 million by the Iowa City Accessor, is listed for sale for $5 million. Little Village reports that the listing calls the building a Landmark property, but not in any legal terms, which would allow a buyer to do anything they wanted to the building, including tearing it down.

There are currently two tenants in the building. A laundromat and one of Iowa City's most popular restaurants Pagliai's Pizza. Little Village reports that both tenants have long-term leases and Pagliai's manager has stated that they have no plans to move. The pizza joint has been in Iowa City since the 1970s. So what is the next move?

Little Village reports that at its meeting on Thursday, the Historic Preservation Commission will start discussing whether it should recommend the Iowa City Council grant the building official Landmark status. That would prevent the building from ever being demolished. While landmark status is usually requested by a building's owner, the city council can also make that determination if they believe it is in the public interest to do so. The public is invited to attend Thursday's meeting at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.