BARTOW – Mike’s Restaurant in Bartow is no more.

No more walls, no more kitchen and no more dining room.

Crews with Falcon Contracting of Bartow began tearing the building down this week, and anticipate finishing the job by Friday.

Andrew Hupp, a principal of Epic Development Co. in Clearwater, said construction at 1590 N. Broadway Ave. will begin quickly on an estimated 6,200-square-foot building that will house Starbucks and Aspen Dental.

“We’re looking at 120 days to finish it,” he said Wednesday. “That’s when they take possession of it, and they will do their buildout.”

He estimated the building and site improvements will total more than $2.5 million.

But first, crews have to clear away the debris of a restaurant that had been a mainstay in Bartow for four decades.

Jeff Clark, executive director of the Greater Bartow Chamber of Commerce, labeled it an icon, and many of the restaurant’s longtime patrons echoed that characterization.

Built in 1973 by Mike Nikolaides, it always remained a family-owned restaurant. The most recent owner and proprietor, John Konidas, was Nikolaides’ nephew.

But at 73, Konidas decided it was time to retire. He spent months searching for the right buyer who would continue the decades-long tradition of homestyle cooking, and when that didn’t pan out, he opted to sell to Epic Development.

The restaurant served up its last fried chicken, grouper fingers and other specialties of the house Nov. 19.

Both he and his son, Spiro, who managed Mike’s Restaurant, said they had no interest in witnessing their restaurant being torn down.

As heavy machinery tore at the walls of the old restaurant Wednesday, its lurching claw pulled away years of history.

Gilbert Olinger Jr., vice president of Falcon Contracting, said the single-story building gave way easily beneath the demolition equipment.

“It was pretty open on the inside, without a lot of interior walls,” he said. “There was really just one main room and a kitchen.”

Olinger, a Bartow native, recalled Wednesday that his maternal grandfather, Albert Carter, once owned the same parcel of the land before Nikolaides bought it.

“He raised young citrus trees on it,” he said. “This area was out in the country back then, when Bartow was a lot smaller.”

Suzie Schottelkotte can be reached at suzie.schottelkotte@theledger.com or 863-533-9070. Follow her on Twitter @southpolkscene.