As winter season kicks off, the downtown commercial landscape has experienced some moves in the retail world with new arrivals and the changing of locations, yet several restaurant spaces will remain dark until next year.

Almost a dozen spaces that used to be restaurants in downtown Aspen will remain shuttered this winter season, including a handful that have been closed for multiple years.

The longest that have remained closed are Main Street Bakery, which ceased operations in 2016 and is owned by prominent landlord Mark Hunt, as well as the former Over Easy and Aspen Brewing Co. space on Hopkins Avenue, which the Hillstone Restaurant Group purchased in 2017.

Brian Biel, vice president of the restaurant group, which owns the White House Tavern next door, issued a similar statement last week that the company has made in previous years.

“Hillstone is working with the city of Aspen to pull its building permit and expects to start work on the new project soon,” he said via email.

Hunt told The Aspen Times this past February he hoped to start construction in a couple of months, but that has not happened.

The space next to the empty Hillstone property that was most recently occupied by Tatanka, which closed in 2021, is supposed to open by next summer as a Thai restaurant and a Japanese concept underneath, according to commercial real estate broker Angi Wang with Setterfield & Bright.

The former Aspen Sports Bistro and prior to that, Hops Culture, located on the Hyman Avenue mall, is under contract and will not be open this winter.

The restaurant space in the Golden Horn building on corner of the Mill and Cooper pedestrian malls won’t be open until next winter, according to John Terzian, who represents the Los Angeles-based h. wood Group.

By: Carolyn Sackariason - December 5, 2022