BOSTON (AP) – Richard Biondo feels for the regulars of The Littlest Bar, a pint-sized Irish pub that’s being forced to close to make way for luxury condominiums.

“It’s places like this that keep people together,” Biondo, 59, said while sipping bourbon on the rocks on a recent night out.

After 61 years, the 440-square-foot “Littlest” is being kicked out of its downtown digs. It will be replaced by a 31-story tower loaded with 150 condos. The bar, which attracts lawyers and hard hats alike, has until the end of April to clear out.

“You build condos – no one knows anyone, no one sees anybody,” Biondo continued. “Those in charge are losing touch with the little people. It’s not right. They’re taking all the culture right out of Boston.”

Patrick “Paddy” Grace, the bar’s owner for the past 16 years, has been looking for a new location downtown, but moving a tavern carries risks.

“In the bar business, when you move a block, you lose some of your regulars,” the 68-year-old Kilkenny-born Grace said during a noontime interview as a lawyer and a couple of blue-collar workers pulled up a stools.

The criminal defense attorney asked that only his first name, Phil, be used. He claimed to have already won two cases “and I was back here before 11” that morning.

“That might not endear me to the SJC,” he said, referring to the state’s Supreme Judicial Court.

The list of boldface names who have drained pints at the Littlest would have gossip columnists drooling. Among them: Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, film director Quentin Tarantino and Irish tenor Ronan Tynan (think seventh inning stretch at Yankee Stadium).

Tynan wowed patrons – 38 people at legal capacity – but Grace remains modest.

“He sang a bit,” he said.

The Abbey Group, a Boston-based real estate development company, received city approval about a year ago to construct a tower that will have eight levels of parking, a health club on two floors, and 150 luxury condos overlooking Boston Common.

Two officials at the company did not return calls to comment on when they’ll break ground. The developers initially told Grace to move out by the end of December, then they pushed it back to this month.

Now, the date is April.

“They keep calling me and saying You have another month.’ I’ll just stay on until it ends,” Grace said, interrupted by the television above the bar showing a steeple chase from England, where a horse named Beantown lost by a nose.

The real estate market can be fickle, but Grace is confident that the condo project will go forward.

“I knew it was coming. In fact, I didn’t think it would last this long,” he said.

City Hall has been encouraging downtown residential developments, which bring property tax revenue.

“It creates a 24-hour neighborhood,” said Boston Redevelopment Authority spokeswoman Susan Elsbree. “It adds life to the city. And there’s an economic spinoff.”

Grace continues to search for another wee spot for a tavern, even if it’s a little larger than the Littlest.

“I wouldn’t mind going up to maybe 800 square feet,” he said.

John Burke, a 33-year-old Irishman, said the clientele changed after word got out that the bar was closing.

“The past two or three months there’s been a lot of strangers,” Burke, who lives in Quincy, said Wednesday night while puffing a cigarette outside.

“Usually you walk in here and there’s 10 people you know,” the Connemara native said. “But now it’s just too busy with tourists, as we call them.”