Controversy swirled last month when the Virginia Department of Health discovered an infestation of mice at the Roanoke City Market Building, which city officials immediately closed.

During the hubbub, one food court vendor insisted mice had migrated into the building this summer after renovation began on the nearby Billy's Ritz building.

Anita Wilson, co-owner of Burger in the Square, said few people listened.

Nearby business owner John Reburn was one who did.

Reburn's Roanoke Valley Printworks is sandwiched between the former Billy's Ritz restaurant and the new Taubman Museum of Art on Salem Avenue Southeast. He said he witnessed an exodus of pests from the Billy's Ritz building as soon as construction began on the circa 1912 building.

"The minute that renovation started, my sidewalk was covered in roaches," Reburn said. "Right after that, it was mice."

Why does Wilson think a possible mouse migration is relevant?

She says it suggests mice numbers were lower before the Billy's Ritz construction began and demonstrates that other buildings downtown harbor mice.

On Tuesday, Wilson and eight other food court vendors announced they have authorized Roanoke lawyer John Fishwick to file suit against the city. The group alleged that the city was a negligent landlord of the market building. Vendors said they might sue for lost profits and damages related to a two-week shutdown of the market building that followed the discovery by health department inspectors last month of widespread mice infestation in the building.

The Virginia Department of Health temporarily suspended the food sellers' licenses, which were restored after the city spent about $117,550 on building repairs and cosmetic improvements and vendors cleaned their individual stalls.

The building reopened Oct. 4 and vendors started offering meals again.

Among many other problems with the building, health inspectors found numerous points of entry for mice and other pests.

Dini Miller, an associate professor of entomology at Virginia Tech, is considered an expert on urban pest management. Mice displaced from a downtown building will seek a new home comparable to the one they've known, she said.

"Mice are going to look for the same kind of habitat they were comfortable in before," Miller said. "Food tends to be their major interest."

Frank Andorka, editorial director of Pest Management Professional, offered a similar observation.

"When you disturb rodent populations in buildings, they will move to another place that has food and water sources that are readily available to them," Andorka said.

When news broke about market building mice, Dr. Stephanie Harper, director of the Roanoke and Alleghany health districts for VDH, said inspectors had been monitoring a moderately serious mouse issue in the food court since midsummer.

Wilson notes that's about when renovation began on Billy's Ritz.

The mice's residential history was not the focus, said VDH spokeswoman A.J. Hostetler.

"The issue that presented an immediate threat to public health, and why the Virginia Department of Health acted, was not where the mice came from but where they were found," she wrote in an e-mail.

Susan Egbert, a partner at Gallery 108 on Salem Avenue, said it's not uncommon to spot mice in her building.

"Periodically, we might see one or two little guys," she said. "We have a downstairs area they like."

Market Street Partners owns the Billy's Ritz building. Its members include attorney Neal Keesee and restaurateur Roger Neel, who did not respond to numerous phone calls and inquiries, both about the mice exodus and the status of renovations, which have apparently ceased.

Jay Hough, a project architect, said, "Economic times are tough, especially if you're trying to get a bank to do anything. Try getting a car loan."

The city issued a building permit on Feb. 26 for the Billy's Ritz renovation.

"The permit is active for 180 days or as long as work is being performed," said Jeff Shawver, building commissioner for the city's department of planning, building and development.