BROOKINGS – The building where the Pizza Ranch restaurant was located was knocked down Thursday morning. The site is on Sixth Street, on the southern edge of the Village Square Mall.

“We have some redevelopment plans for that site,” said Mary Jo Minor, president of Mills Property Management, which manages the location. Mills plans to construct a new building on the site. No business has been signed as of yet, but “we’re working with about three different great potential possibilities, which will affect what size building will go back there. It’s going to be a real update for the whole development.”

Minor said the demolition has been planned for a year. 

Pizza Ranch moved out of the building in February. It announced via its Facebook page that it was temporarily closing and looking for a new location since the demolition and reconstruction did not fit with Pizza Ranch’s new concept of expansion and branding. 

Mills Property is hoping to start construction of its new building by late summer or early fall of this year, Minor said.

“I think with the building down, we’re gonna get a lot more energy there because it’s a great location, prime,” she added.

“We’re just excited,” she said.