Two of Harvard Square's most beloved small businesses will soon be forced to relocate, according to officials from Harvard Planning and Real Estate (HPRE).

According to Scott Levitan, director of University and Commercial Real Estate at HPRE, the Harvard Provision Company and Skewers Restaurant will be vacating their Mt. Auburn Street location by the beginning of next year.

In their place is planned a $6 million new building half the size of University Hall, taking up both this lot and the one next door. The new building will eventually hold both retail space and University offices.

According to Levitan, both stores' leases will expire on January 15, 2000 and both will need to move out by that time.

The University Typewriter Company, a former tenant of the neighboring building, has already moved to a new location on JFK Street. It will not be replaced by new tenants until a new building is built on the site, he said.

Both buildings have been declared

historic landmarks, which will complicate the University's plan to raze them. Levitan says he hopes the new building's design will fit in well enough with the surrounding neighborhood to win an exemption.

The University's current space crunch, especially in Cambridge, and site's convenient location now make the site especially attractive for new development.

"There are a couple of reasons why now is an appropriate time to think about redeveloping that site," Levitan said. "Those buildings are really tired. They have outmoded systems and they either need some renovation or to come down."