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Downtown Aspen building sells for $4.25 million

Karl Herchenroeder
The Aspen Times
Mark Hunt has Seguin Building, which houses the Aspen Brewing Co., Aspen Over Easy and the Square Grouper, under contract to sell. The structure is located at 304 E. Hopkins Ave.
Aubree Dallas/The Aspen Times |

The Seguin Building, which houses the Aspen Brewing Co., Aspen Over Easy and The Square Grouper, sold for $4.25 million on Wednesday, according to Pitkin County property records.

The buyer is listed as 304 East Hopkins Holdings LLC, which is controlled by downtown developer Mark Hunt. The seller is listed as Bill Seguin, who has owned the building for 31 years. Featuring 6,000 square feet of commercial space on East Hopkins Avenue, the building also houses two apartments.

Seguin said he was not actively looking to sell the property but was approached with an offer through commercial real estate broker Bill Small, of Frias Properties.



“The offer was fair, so we did the negotiation, and I agreed, and it just seemed like the right thing to do,” Seguin, 69, said, adding that his age played a part in the decision.

Seguin admitted that he has a bit of seller’s remorse because he has enjoyed working with his tenants: Aspen Brewing Co.’s Duncan Clauss, Over Easy’s Mladen Todorovic and Ves Tzolov, and The Square Grouper’s Mike Goldman and Jesse Wey. Seguin expressed confidence that the new owner will honor current leases.




“They’re all wonderful. They all pay the rent,” he said of the tenants. “I certainly don’t see any changes there in the immediate future.”

Todorovic said he has about 21/2 years left on his lease agreement, with an option for five additional years. He knew the sale was in the works but discovered it was official via text message from Seguin on Wednesday. Though Seguin gave him assurance, Todorovic is still uneasy about the future of his business.

“We’ll see,” Todorovic said, adding that there is concern around the building about redevelopment.

Hunt could not be reached for comment.

Goldman and Wey have about four years left on their lease, with an additional five-year option. Goldman, who found out about the deal’s potential two weeks ago, said Seguin has kept him in the loop every step of the way. Until he hears otherwise, he said, it’s business as usual at the Grouper.

“Seguin was the best landlord I’ve ever worked with in Aspen,” said Goldman, an Aspen restaurant veteran, . “He’s a great guy, and we’ll definitely miss him.”

Hunt and investors are now linked to at least 10 downtown properties. Purchases include the $22 million Bidwell Building on Cooper Avenue; the $13.25 million Aspen 1 building on Galena Street, where the Gap Building once stood; the $12.5 million Crystal Palace on Hyman Avenue; the $1.5 million Buckhorn Arms Building, home to Johnny McGuire’s Deli and Domino’s Pizza; property on the Mill Street pedestrian mall formerly housing restaurants Pacifica and Above the Salt; and two retail units in the Paragon Building on Hyman Avenue. Hunt also has partial interest in the Hotel Jerome on Main Street and is negotiating a contract for the building that the Aspen Daily News occupies on East Hopkins Avenue.

herk@aspentimes.com