Tom Secrist is splitting off from Atomic Cowboy.
Secrist, 64, sold the biscuits, beer and pizza spot for $3 million, along with the restaurant group’s headquarters around the corner in a house-turned-office-building at 1515 Adams St.
“It feels great,” Secrist said of the closing. “It doesn’t mean that I’m out of the business … maybe I’ll go back to fix and flips on the houses … I just hope what I’ve done has helped to improve the selection of offerings on the street on the retail and restaurant end of it.”
Justin Brockman, a broker at Required Properties, listed the spaces in August and was under contract by the first week of September, he said. The buyer, Li H Xu, purchased the 3,200-square-foot restaurant and 2,500-square-foot office as an investment.
“Anyone who has property on East Colfax should consider selling … it seems to be an insulated market that has so much demand from investors,” Brockman said.
Listing documents show that Atomic Cowboy’s lease at its original restaurant is set to expire in 2033. The Colfax space was where the business first opened in 2004, in a corner unit of a larger retail building. It currently pays a little over $40 per square foot per year in rent there for the retail space and half that rent for the office.
That wasn’t always the case, though.
“I just thought the area was lacking in things that served the neighborhood, especially 25 years ago,” said Secrist, the seller, on why he purchased the property in the first place.
Secrist bought the retail condo and house with a friend in July 2000 for $390,000. Back then, the retail space housed a business that sold musical organs, and the house was home to a rotating cast of young men.
He rehabbed the retail space a few years later when his tenant moved out and built it out as a restaurant. It caught the eye of Robert Thompson, who later started the “eatertainment” brand Punch Bowl Social.
Thompson started Atomic Cowboy in the space, but current CEO Drew Shader quickly replaced him at the helm.
“When they opened the cowboy, it was a bar with some OK food,” Secrist said. “But when Drew came in, he created three revenue streams in under 3,200 square feet.”
Since then, the concept, which includes pizza brand Fat Sully’s and Denver Biscuit Co., has grown to seven Colorado locations, including a spot in Colorado Springs and Golden, along with two in Kansas City.
Secrist is selling off his East Colfax portfolio. Earlier this year, he sold 3401-3421 E. Colfax Ave., which included neighborhood bar Middleman and restaurant Q House. He has one property still on the market – 3221 E. Colfax Ave. – the other corner unit of the building where Atomic Cowboy is located. It’s currently a hair salon; its real estate is listed for $550,000.
One winner in the deal is a friend who bought the properties with him 24 years ago. He put up $80,000 to own 30 percent of the property’s equity. Last week, he walked away with $661,000 at closing, Secrist said.
“I just brought him in because he was a good friend and wanted a little action, and I never regretted it,” he said.
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