Hunt Nabs Souki Properties In $62 Million Deal
Business entities under the control of developer Mark Hunt paid a combined $62 million for four family-owned downtown Aspen properties, according to transaction records entered by the Pitkin County Clerk & Recorder’s Office on Wednesday.
For Hunt, the four purchases added 27,655 square feet of commercial space and 4,728 square feet of residential to his stable of downtown real estate.
For the sellers, the transactions officially concluded a five-year, high-stakes battle with a group of lenders and affiliates after $120 million in personal loans received by Charif Souki became overdue. Hunt was not involved in the dispute.
Hunt and family spokesman Karim Souki did not immediately acknowledge or return messages left Wednesday.
The four-pronged deal left Hunt with the following properties:
• 426 E. Hyman Ave. — The mixed-use building has a three-bedroom, two-bath residence encompassing 2,040 square feet, and 7,600 square feet of commercial space. It’s where Aspen Psychic and Overland Sheepskin Co. operate from the Hyman Avenue walking mall. The buyer of record was APCC 426 E Hyman LLC and the seller of record was 426 East Hyman Avenue LLC. The sale price was $13.283 million. Hunt borrowed $12.4 million to finance the purchase, property records show.
• 410 E. Hyman Ave. — Located in the Hyman Avenue walking mall, the building has 2,688 square feet of residential space with five bedrooms and five bathrooms. As well, it comes with 7,800 square feet of retail and commercial space. The sale price was $19.445 million, with the buyer listed as APCC 408-414 E Hyman LLC and the seller 410 AH LLC.
• 514 E. Hyman Ave. — The 7,933-square-feet of commercial space is the home of Coldwell Banker Mason Morse, a franchise business the Souki-controlled Ajax Holdings have owned since approximately 2013. APCC 514 E Hyman LLC was listed as the buyer of record and 514 AH LLC the seller of record. The sale price was $16.639 million.
• 617 E. Cooper Ave., Unit B — Part of the Aspen Square building, the 4,072-square-foot space is all retail. It sold for $12.644 million to APCC 614 E Durant LLC. The seller of record was Durant AH LLC.
Hunt financed the purchase of 410 E. Hyman Ave, 514 E. Hyman Ave. and 617 E. Cooper with a $32.1 million loan.
He originally had a $70 million deal in the works with the sellers, based on remarks made at a bankruptcy hearing in Houston in June.
He also established six limited liability companies in July, according to state business records. Each LLC was named after the address of the properties under contract with the sellers.
Two Souki family properties, however, were not part of the transactions recorded Wednesday — a 1,930-square-foot unit in the Paragon Building, at 419 E. Hyman Ave., and a 3,588-square-feet unit at 415 E. Hyman Ave. Public records show Hunt created LLCs named after each one of those addresses.
According to bankruptcy court records out of Houston, the parties signed nondisclosure agreements to not comment about the transactions.
Proceeds from the sale were to be placed in an escrow account, where they were to be disbursed to the lending group owed roughly $100 million by Souki, based on parts of the settlement agreement open to the public. Souki’s Aspen Valley Ranch sold for $30.5 million earlier this year after declaring bankruptcy in July 2023.
Hunt and his entities own commercial properties downtown that include the former homes of Eric’s compound and The Aspen Times offices on East Hyman Avenue, the Red Onion on East Cooper Avenue, and the former Main Street Bakery building, which is nearing its redevelopment completion, among others. Hunt also is partnering with California-based home-furnishings company RH, formerly known as Restoration Hardware, on multiple projects in town, including redeveloping the Crystal Palace Theatre building into a boutique hotel and redeveloping the Bidwell Building into a gallery, showroom, retail and dining space.
By: Rick Carroll I Aspen Daily News I August 8, 2024