Last modified: Saturday, March 25, 2006 12:27 AM EST Sports bar's final shot BY GEORGE W. RHODES/SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO--Deteriorating business conditions and increasing interest in downtown housing has spelled the end for a popular city watering hole. Owners of Johnny Mac's, a sports bar long ensconced on the corner of Pine and Dunham streets, said the aim is to close by the end of May. The bar is a stone's throw from Union Street, which is ground zero for a massive downtown revitalization project using new homes as a catalyst. Plans call for the bar to be razed and replaced by 14 townhouse condominiums. `` We've seen the writing on the wall for a while,'' said Paul Demusz, who owns Johnny Mac's with Kirk LaPorte. `` We're just not making a living anymore. There are too many forces against us, and I don't see it stopping.'' A variety of factors combined to kill the business, he said. Skyrocketing utility costs, a smoking ban which dropped his business about 20 percent, a drop-off in the 20-something crowd that used to frequent the bar and new regulations requiring the installation of expensive sprinklers in the wake of the deadly nightclub fire in Rhode Island all contributed to a decision to close the bar, Demusz said. As a result, Demusz, LaPorte and Demusz's mother, Marilyn Demusz of Stoughton, who owns the building and the 18,312-square-foot lot, concluded the best long term use of the property is for new homes -- especially with city plans afoot for intense residential development downtown. `` It would cost a fortune to sprinkle the place, and with everything going on in the city, that's the direction I decided to go,'' Marilyn Demusz said of the townhouse project. Downtown housing on upper floors is allowed by right, but Demusz needs to get a special permit from the zoning board to allow dwellings on the first floor. She also needs a variance for a side-yard set back. Two of the 14 homes are planned to be built under affordable housing rules. The project follows an 8-townhouse development downtown on Park Street by builder George Jung that was completed more than a year ago. Paul Demusz said there are no plans to relocate Johnny Mac's, although he did approach the owner of the building on Bank Street where another bar, Jarrod's, used to be. However, another use is planned for that building. Demusz said he's willing to transfer the liquor license and help someone else get up and running if they can come up with a site. Closing won't be easy, he said. `` We've made a lot of friends in the city,'' he said. `` It will be tough leaving them.''