The Briarhurst Manor Estate in Manitou Springs, a Pikes Peak region landmark that's operated as a fine-dining restaurant for a half-century inside a Victorian manor house built by the city's founder nearly 150 years ago, closed its doors Sunday and it's unknown if it will reopen.
The venue, which also has hosted weddings, banquets, parties and other events for generations of area residents, saw a dramatic decline in business and customers last year that led to the closure, said Janice Montoya, the Briarhurst's sales and marketing director and wife of longtime owner Ken Healey.
"The reason we are closed is because (2024) was a very slow year, to put it mildly," Montoya said. "And business never really picked up. The summer is supposed to be busy; it wasn't very busy."
Customers who'd make reservations and then cancel at the last minute or never show up at all was a problem throughout the year, Montoya said. Meanwhile, in December alone, the Briarhurst's business fell by 80% from what it was in the same month a year earlier, she said.
"You can't stay open if the customers don't come," Montoya said. "You can't be open for one or two tables."
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The Briarhurst Manor, at 404 Manitou Ave., is an iconic piece of history in the Pikes Peak region. It's also been a signature business in Manitou Springs, the residential hamlet just west of Colorado Springs known for its mountain scenery, tourist attractions and eclectic mix of stores and restaurants in its downtown.
The Briarhurst was built in 1876 by Manitou Springs founder Dr. William Bell, an Englishman who was a business partner of Colorado Springs founder Gen. William Jackson Palmer, according to previous posts on the restaurant's website. The two-story, 14,482-square-foot "finely grained, pink sandstone Tudor Manor," as it's described on the website, occupies nearly 5 acres.
A prominent local chef purchased the property in 1974 and transformed it into a fine-dining establishment a year later. Healey, a Breckenridge businessman, purchased the Briarhurst in 2000 and operated it in the same fashion.
As described on its website, the Briarhurst could seat up to 500 people in nine rooms and offered five-course dinners that featured domestic and game meats, fresh seafood, pastas, poultry, specialty salads and hand-crafted desserts.
"It's definitely heartbreaking that they are closed because they are such a landmark in the community," said Leslie Lewis, executive director of the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce. "What a loss."
Montoya said she wasn't sure why business fell off like it did in the last year.
One problem: the Briarhurst is set back off a heavily treed street and can be difficult to see for passing motorists.
Signage also has been an issue, Montoya said. The Briarhurst property was subdivided and a portion of it was sold by its previous owner many years ago. As a result of that sale, the Briarhurst no longer owned land along a driveway that leads into the venue off Manitou Avenue and no longer has a sign at that spot to direct motorists onto the property -- making it easy to miss.
"People have asked at least once a week, 'how come there's no sign by the driveway?' It's because we don't own the land," she said of customers, some of whom would arrive irritated because they couldn't find the restaurant.
The Manitou Chamber's office is just east of the Briarhurst, at 354 Manitou Ave.
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"We, certainly more in previous years than in the last few, would get people in here, going, 'how do I get to Briarhurst? Where is it? I know I'm close,'" said the chamber's Lewis. "And so we'd direct them in."
The Briarhurst's location, east of the Manitou's downtown and somewhat isolated, also might have hurt, Montoya said.
"We are in a weird location," she said. "I can go to downtown Manitou, and see all kinds of people going around and eating. But us not having a sign, and being just a little bit east of the downtown, a lot of people don't even know we're here."
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Stiff competition from other restaurants, which have saturated the Pikes Peak region, also might have contributed to the downturn in business, Montoya said.
The Briarhurst is one of the latest restaurant closures in the Colorado Springs area in recent months; restaurant owners and operators have said costs for food and other items have spiked because of inflation, while a lack of skilled labor and rising costs of utilities, insurance and property taxes are among problems faced by their industry.
For the Briarhurst, its shutdown culminates a series of misfortunes in recent years, Montoya said.
Her husband, Ken Healey, suffered a severe ankle fracture in January 2023, and spent the next month hospitalized, Montoya said. He was forced to abandon his role as the day-to-say overseer of the restaurant, which included food and alcohol purchases, hiring employees and training them, she said.
Around the same time in early 2023, Montoya and Healey had an agreement in place to sell the business, but that deal fell through. Two more potential sales also fell through, she said.
"It's been real difficult because, in 2023, with Ken not coming back to work, it was on me," Montoya said. "But I kept thinking these other people were going to be taking over. ... And that just never came to fruition.
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"I've been very transparent about the fact that I can't keep trying to do this by myself. It's too much," she added. "When there were two people at the helm, it was a lot easier. And Ken knew about things that I had very little knowledge of. I was mainly here as the person you would meet with to plan a wedding or a banquet or a retirement. Fun stuff. He was at the desk, with spreadsheets in front of him that made my eyes cross."
Montoya described the Briarhurst's closure as temporary -- for now, at least.
She and Healey are trying to sell the business, and at least two parties have shown interest in purchasing it. One potential buyer has said he would keep it closed for a while to reset the business, and then would have a grand opening, Montoya said.
But if someone buys the business, they won't necessarily purchase the building or the property upon which it sits.
Financial problems led to the Briarhurst falling into foreclosure in September 2023, according to El Paso County Public Trustee's records. The property was purchased for $1.5 million on Jan. 31, 2024, at a foreclosure sale by H2 Properties, a Denver real estate group, Public Trustee records show.
As a result, the Briarhurst, as a business, has been a tenant at the property and operates on a month-to-month lease with the Denver owners, Montoya said.
It's unknown what H2 Properties might have in store for the property, if anything; H2 officials could not be reached for comment.
Whatever happens, the Briarhurst property would be an attractive redevelopment opportunity, said Tim Leigh, a longtime broker with the Hoff & Leigh commercial brokerage of Colorado Springs. He marketed the property in 2019 when Healey sought to sell it at that time.
The Briarhurst property has Pikes Peak views, a scenic setting along Fountain Creek and a good-sized parcel, Leigh said. A hotel or another hospitality business, housing or a destination spa are all potential uses for the property if it were to be redeveloped, he said.
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Since 1973, the Briarhurst has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which recognizes a property's historical, architectural or archaeological significance and is administered by the National Park Service. That designation doesn't restrict what private owners can do with their property, unless it's involved in a project that receives federal assistance, according to the National Park Service's website.
"The Briarhurst is one of the best pieces of real estate certainly in that part of the city, Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs," Leigh said. "There might be other redevelopment opportunities in other parts of the city, but for downtown and west, there's just no better piece of real estate for redevelopment."
For now, Montoya said she and Healey will continue to pursue the sale of the business while the Briarhurst remains closed.
"There's several people interested," she said. "There's definitely interest. If anyone else wants to throw their hat in the ring, please do."