WEST TAMPA - A former sports bar and barbecue restaurant on Columbus Drive is becoming an office building.

Big 10 Contractors has bought the 1950s building at 2511 W. Columbus Drive and will turn it into an environmentally friendly office building that will replicate the building's original look, said Mike Kappaz, construction director at Big 10 Contractors.

The 2-year-old business has been in St. Petersburg. It is moving to West Tampa to take advantage of the central location and the area's history.

The building will be rehabilitated, Kappaz said.

Large front windows that face Columbus Drive long ago were covered with stucco and paint. The contractor will remove those materials and install new windows.

The company also plans to remove stucco from the walls and add a brick façade. Awnings will replace an existing concrete overhang, said Lincoln Sziranko, chief financial officer for Big 10 Contractors.

The interior of the 4,500-square-foot building has been gutted.

Big 10 Contractors plans to add new frames, wiring, drywall and plumbing.

It also will make the building environmentally friendly, using steel framing instead of wood, environmentally sound insulation and a "cool roof" that helps reduce the sun's heat.

The building will have three offices: one for Big 10 Contractors; another for Alexander Lofts development company, owned by Ryan Koenig; and a third that remains to be leased.

Kappaz said the building originally was home to Latam's Restaurant from the 1950s to the 1980s. It recently was a sports bar and barbecue restaurant, but has been vacant for three years, Kappaz said.

Big 10 Contractors plans to spend $700,000 to buy and rehabilitate the building. It hopes to complete the building by October.

Reporter Jose Patino Girona can be reached at (813) 259-7659.