A dozen properties owned by Tavern Hospitality Group founders Frank Schultz and Terry Papay hit the market last week, weeks after the mother-son duo reached a deal to end their legal spat.
Denver’s Henry Group Real Estate is marketing the properties, which span from LoHi to the Denver Tech Center, and include a handful of buildings a fly ball away from Coors Field.
“There’s some really, really good assets,” Henry Group founder Pat Henry told BusinessDen. “You’ve got to give them credit — they bought some nice properties.”
The properties comprise all the joint real estate holdings of Schultz and Papay, with the exception of the former Tavern Littleton property at 2589 Main St. in downtown Littleton. That property was already on the market, and is listed by Legend Partners.
The bulk of the properties listed last week are retail — some with tenants, some vacant and some with an office component — but the offerings also include an industrial property in unincorporated Arapahoe County and a Greenwood Village parking lot where an office project could be developed.
It’s not a portfolio sale; properties can be sold individually. And it’s not a fire sale. Schultz said Friday that there’s no timeline for when deals need to be completed, and “as little as zero of them could sell, or all of them.”
“If it’s not going to bring the numbers we want for the property, I’ll either buy her (out) or she’ll buy me,” he said.
Papay and Schultz have operated Tavern Hospitality Group since 1997, when they turned a warehouse at 20th and Market into The Soiled Dove music venue. The company expanded to include restaurants — many, but not all, with Tavern in their name — around the metro area.
In March 2023, Papay sued Schultz, accusing her son of stealing from the business. Schultz expressed disappointment that his mother had “made a years-long family dispute open to the public,” and countersued her not long after, saying Papay was actually the one misusing company funds.
Schultz warned the dispute would “destroy the business,” which he said had been “wildly profitable.” In February, he confirmed that the pair had reached a settlement that would involve selling real estate.
Only three Tavern Hospitality spots remain open: Otra Vez Cantina on the 16th Street Mall, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot in Union Station North neighborhood, and Chopper’s sports bar in Cherry Creek. The first two lease their real estate, but Tavern owns the Chopper’s real estate, and it’s among the 12 properties listed last week.
