Yogi’s enters battle with Aspen to keep lease

Yogi’s is ready to take the city of Aspen to war.

The city is attempting to evict the American-style lunch restaurant and arcade after the business failed to pay the past three months of rent and utilities, amounting to $21,204.81. 

Aspen filed a lawsuit to the 9th Judicial District Court to evict the business from the 1,615 foot city-owned space located at 455 Rio Grande Place — adjacent to the Rio Grande Park — on Thursday. 

“We provided them notice and demand for late rent payment; they failed to respond to that or make any payments towards the past due rent amounts and other sums due,” said City Attorney Katharine Johnson. “We exercised our right to terminate the lease.”

But Yogi’s Owner Brendan Berl will not go down without a fight. After opening in December 2024, Berl said his hope for the restaurant was, and continues to be, an affordable, family-friendly lunch spot. With a free arcade and art materials, the business also gives teenagers a healthy third space where they can spend time — something he thinks the community lacks. So far, he said, the restaurant has done just that.

“I’m doing this for the community,” he said, adding, “If they take it, everyone loses.”

He attributed the late payments to unexpected costs the business accrued during permitting and renovation delays. 

The city chose Berl over several other candidates to occupy the space in December 2022, formerly leased by Taster’s. He said the city had told him his permit would get “greenlit” within three weeks, but that it didn’t do so for closer to 12 weeks. The lease agreement wasn’t officially approved by the city council until April 11, 2023, according to city records.

“Because of the permit delay, I could not find a general contractor because who’s going to take the job on when they don’t know when the job starts,” Berl said. 

He added, in an email he had planned to send to the city but was advised not to, that the permit was quoted at $22,000 but he was charged $53,998.

“So the permit took 4x as long and cost 50% more than quoted,” he wrote in the email.

Berl hired The Home Group President Jack Wheeler as a contractor to renovate the space, who was recommended to him by the city. Wheeler built City Hall and was previously Aspen’s Capital Asset Director. He quoted Berl $884,000 for an estimated four months of construction. To cover construction and business expenses, Berl took out a $920,000 loan from FirstBank, agreeing to pay the money back at $12,000 per month.

But things didn’t go as planned.

Various design obstacles held up the process as he was drawing up the floor plans for the renovated design. He officially submitted for a building permit in late August 2023, according to the city, and he posted on Facebook in late November of that year that the building permit had been approved.

“Big week ahead finalizing paperwork then we’ll be knocking some walls down finally!” he wrote.

He said in the post that the restaurant was aiming to open before March 24, 2024. But construction didn’t begin until February 2024, according to his Facebook updates. The construction process took 10 months rather than the four he was originally quoted. In the meantime, his loan payments amassed while the business remained closed.

“We were paying $12,000/month on our loan,” Berl wrote in the email. “So an extra six months cost us effectively $72,000.”

Wheeler, however, said the delays came from Berl’s end.

“Any alleged changes to the initial construction schedule were the direct result of change orders and other actions taken by Mr. Berl during the course of construction,” Wheeler said in a prepared statement. “The Home Group proceeded at all times in accordance with the terms of their contract and the directions of Mr. Berl.”

Berl disagreed. Though he was in charge of providing his own kitchen equipment to the renovated space, he said he was waiting on construction to fulfill his side of the agreement. 

“After delays, Jack Wheeler (the GC) had stated that he was waiting on us to bring in the equipment in August,” he wrote in the email. “The photos below clearly show that it was not even close to completion. There would be no place to store the equipment.”

With the delays, Berl and Wheeler had agreed to a new construction quote of roughly $960,000. But when the final payment came through, Berl said he was charged an additional $170,000 that he had not anticipated.

“My options at that point were: Open the restaurant, or pay him; I chose to open because there would be no way to pay ANY bills if we weren’t open,” he wrote in the email.

Following Berl’s decision, Wheeler filed a lawsuit against Berl for lack of payment. 

“We are currently in mediation regarding the amount owed,” Berl wrote. 

Yogi’s opened on Dec. 24, 2024. Berl said he has so far invested over $1.2 million into the business. Though the restaurant owes three months of payments to the city and is under threat of eviction, it is going to keep running as usual for as long as possible.

“I’m going to keep serving food until they literally chain the doors,” he said.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.