After serving Ohio State students beer and fond memories, Quarters on Lane Avenue will be shutting its doors for good to make room for the widening of Lane Avenue, and despite rumors, will not be relocating. Ernie Malas, Quarters co-owner, said that after reading a December article in The Columbus Dispatch, he learned that the Quarters located at 16 W. Lane Ave., UniversiTee’s at 2147-2145 N. High St., and PJ’s Grille and Subs, 8 W. Lane Ave. will be taken by the city through eminent domain and torn down by June. Epic Properties owns all of the buildings that house these businesses. Scott Solomon, an Epic Properties employee, said an appraiser has been hired by the city, but a price has yet to be named for the buildings. He also mentioned there has been talk of tearing down the buildings for three or four years, but this is the first time real action has been taken.Quarters reopened its doors three years ago after extensive remodeling and has been a hot spot on Thursday nights due to its popular ladies’ ’80s night and 18-and-over weekends.The bar was known as the Thirsty Eye in the 1980s and then became the Jailhouse during the 1990s.Brian Baker, manager of Quarters, said he thinks it is sad the bar will be torn down. His father, who went to OSU in the late 1970s, still talks about his memories of the bar when it was called the Thirsty Eye. Malas and his partner said they’re angry at the decision to tear down the building. Since leasing the building three years ago, Malas said they have invested $200,000 plus countless hours of work into the bar in order to meet city codes and make a safe, clean environment for its customers. Malas said he and his partner will get nothing from the city to compensate for losses after being forced to close their business.”We bought all new tables and chairs, all new windows and doors, basically we re-did everything,” he said. “You spend all that money and you don’t expect to make it back in three years.”Ryan Lippe from the city attorneys office said it is a civil situation that is between the landlord and the tenant. He said the city has a monetary obligation to the property owner, but not to the business owner. “Any alleged loss by a tenant would need to have negotiations with the landlord or legal counsel,” Lippe said. He added that the city’s only obligation is to give the property owner a fair and reasonable compensation for the land.Malas said the city referred him to Minnie Dixon, a negotiator at the city attorney’s office, who told him there was nothing the city could do in regard to compensation and that he should talk to his landlord.”It doesn’t seem to me it’s the landlord’s job because they are only being compensated for the value of the land and the building,” he said. “They are selling a building, not my business.”Dixon declined to comment on this story, stating that she was not at liberty to talk about the Lane Avenue project. John Klein, chief real estate attorney for the city attorney’s office, was also contacted regarding the Lane Avenue project, but did not respond.Solomon said he thinks the widening of Lane Avenue is bad for the OSU residential community because it will just encourage more traffic going through the residential area.”As a property owner there’s no reason to have traffic going east on Lane Avenue that brings more traffic into the residential area,” Solomon said.Mark Richard, Lane Avenue project manager for the city of Columbus, told the Lantern in a July 17 article that three major components of the project are widening the roadway, constructing a new bridge and laying a new storm pipe. Richard said Lane Avenue will be widened to five lanes from Olentangy River Road to High Street. According to Richard, doing so would help align the east and west legs of Lane Avenue and allow for left turns in every direction on Lane Avenue and High Street.Malas said he and his partner do not plan to relocate Quarters because of the loss they will suffer after it closes.”November was a record month for us, the Michigan game was the best week we’ve ever had,” Malas said. “The bar is really starting to pay-off and now we are getting shut down.”