Sopris Restaurant to close doors

A restaurant that has been a fixture for valley residents over the last 30 years may be razed to make way for a large midvalley development.The land beneath Sopris Restaurant – which serves up steaks and fresh seafood from a red, V-shaped building along Highway 82 between Glenwood Springs and Carbondale – is under contract to be sold to the adjacent Bair Chase development.According to developers, the deal to purchase the land should close early next month. The restaurant’s owner, Kurt Wigger, said he is selling the parcel, just short of an acre, for about $1 million.”It will be torn down,” he said. “It’s sad in one way, but since I’ve been here all this time, now nobody can screw it up.”

Wigger, 63, said he’s been trying to sell the property for the last seven years but thinks potential buyers were worried about filling his shoes in the restaurant business.”Restaurants are like mushrooms – there are a hundred more restaurants down here than there once were,” he said. “Who buys a restaurant for $1 million and then tries to make it work? Either a fool or a rich man.”Bair Chase Ranch at Cattle Creek, five miles south of Glenwood Springs, was approved in 2004. The development includes an 18-hole golf course, 48 single-family home lots, 48 multifamily residences and 120 affordable housing units.Sopris Restaurant sits on the far northern end of the Bair Chase property, said the ranch’s spokesman, Jim Wells.

“It won’t remain as a restaurant, and I think that’s about all we know about it right now,” Wells said. “We’re still doing some planning, and that additional acreage helps us. It gives us a little latitude, some movement in our planning and design at that end of the property.”The deal to buy the land has been batted around between developers for more than three years, he said.The restaurant’s last days are Aug. 30 and 31, Wigger said. Sit-down dining will end on Aug. 30, and a party to celebrate the establishment is scheduled for the 31st.Wigger also owns Buffalo Valley Inn and Restaurant in Glenwood Springs, and he said he’s tired of running between the two businesses. He will stay with Buffalo Valley until it’s time to truly retire, he said.

Wigger, who is Swiss, moved to the valley in 1961 and became part of The Red Onion as a chef and co-owner.Sopris Restaurant’s building was built in 1974, and Wigger bought the building with his Red Onion partners to turn it into a downvalley version of the legendary Aspen bar and restaurant. In 1978 when they sold The Red Onion, they changed the downvalley restaurant to Sopris.He left The Red Onion for good in the late ’70s but has been creating recipes, cooking and greeting patrons at Sopris Restaurant since its inception. The restaurant is popular with locals, who enjoy live music on Tuesdays and have awarded Wigger with best chef, best restaurant and best atmosphere awards year after year.Naomi Havlen’s e-mail address is nhavlen@aspentimes.com