Central Oregon residents loyal to downtown’s Super Burrito have until Tuesday to gobble up the restaurant’s generous portions of quickly made and affordably priced Mexican food.

In another chapter of the changing face of downtown Bend, the decade-old establishment is closing its doors at the end of the month, making way for a new retailer to fill the spot in the historic D.H. Sphier Building on Northwest Minnesota Avenue, proprietors say.

The building’s owner is remodeling the structure and plans to put retail stores in the spaces once occupied by two other restaurants. Super Burrito owners say the same is planned for their space.

Representatives of the building’s owner, DesertScape, could not be reached for comment Thursday.

“It’s really sad — especially for my father,” restaurant employee Patty Moreno said of her father and owner, Miguel. “We’re looking really hard (for another location). We really want to open another place.”

The Morenos don’t know when and where they might open another Super Burrito, but Patty Moreno says downtown rents may keep them out of the city’s core.

“Rentals downtown are too expensive,” she said.

Super Burrito’s 1,000-square-foot space, for which rent was raised five months ago, costs $2,183 per month to lease, or just more than $2 per foot, Moreno said. Still, the Morenos thought they could stay open without raising food prices too much.

At the beginning of the month, Moreno said DesertScape issued a 30-day notice to move out because the space would no longer be used for food service.

DesertScape representatives previously have said that they’re remodeling the Sphier building to improve the structure and bring it up to a level that justifies prevailing market rents.

Brokers and building owners have said prime locations downtown are renting for around $2.25 to $3 per square foot, per month.

On June 15, Super Burrito’s neighbor of almost 10 years, Kuishinbo Kitchen, closed to make way for remodeling. Kuishinbo Kitchen owners haven’t announced plans to reopen elsewhere.

Both Super Burrito and Kuishinbo Kitchen owners acknowledged their Sphier building spaces needed work.

Also, a mixed-use development going up behind the restaurants blocked their back doors, stifling ventilation and access to trash receptacles.

Double Happiness, a Chinese restaurant formerly on the corner of Bond and Minnesota, left the Sphier building last year, due in part to the new development blocking their rear access. The restaurant reopened in the Tuscan Square center on U.S. Highway 20.

Kuishinbo Kitchen’s space hasn’t been filled.

Super Burrito has been a favorite of Bend resident Erik Jurgenson, 19, and his friends since they attended Bend High School. They always order the bean, rice and cheese burritos, he said.

“It seems like all the young people come here,” Jurgenson said around lunchtime Thursday.

At a nearby table, Redmond residents Elva Moore and Carol Gove ate chicken tacos. The women work downtown and Moore says she eats at Super Burrito once a week.

“I’m from Mexico and you can taste that it’s really good, authentic, homemade food,” Moore said. “You can’t find that anywhere else.”

Gove likes that the food comes out fast — fitting into her half-hour lunch break.

Neither had heard the restaurant is closing.

“I’m sure a lot of people will be disappointed,” Moore said. “That’s it … I’m moving,” she joked.