The building that houses Tangled Roots Craft Beer & Kitchen, a $9 million restaurant on the downtown Washington square, is on the market, about seven months after the restaurant opened.
Grist Mill Ventures is selling the building at 140 Washington Square – but not the restaurant, which opened in April. The asking price for the building is $5.25 million, or about $1,200 per square foot.
A listing of the sale on LoopNet went online last week.
Jon Oliphant, Washington's planning and development director, mentioned the sale during Monday’s Washington City Council meeting while answering a question from Alderperson Bobby Martin III.
Martin inquired about the status of a sale of two buildings also owned by Grist Mill Ventures near Tangled Roots to Peoria-based Baldovin Construction.
Those buildings are a former Knights of Columbus Hall and the former location of a Prep Freeze Cook store at 120 and 126 Walnut Street, respectively. They were expected to be transformed into event and retail spaces in an estimated $1.25 million project.
“I learned this afternoon that the sale fell through,” Oliphant said.
That development has put in limbo the future of the buildings and the city's $350,000 TIF [tax increment financing] agreement for the event/retail project.
“We hope the current owner of the buildings will do the planned exterior renovations,” Oliphant said. “If a new owner comes in and agrees to the terms of the TIF agreement, it will remain in place.”
Grist Mill Ventures bought the building at 120 Walnut for $172,500 and the building at 126 Walnut for $140,000 in 2022.
As for the nearly 4,400-square-foot, two-story Tangled Roots building, real estate company Brummel Properties’ listing in LoopNet calls it a “premier investment opportunity.”
“This stunning property, undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation, stands as a testament to modern design while contributing to the vibrant character of the town square,” reads the listing's executive summary.
Included in the listing are four Airbnb units on the upper floor of the building.
The new owners of the Tangled Roots building will inherit the restaurant’s eight-year lease that went into effect in April with a five-year option for renewal.
The city’s $980,000 TIF agreement with Grist Mill Ventures, which ends this month, originally called for Tangled Roots to be open by Dec. 1, 2023. Supply chain, demolition and other issues delayed the opening for 16 months.
Issues with neighbors, acclaimed sculptor Marlene Miller and the Washington Historical Society, cropped up frequently during Tangled Roots’ demolition and construction process.
Miller went to Tazewell County Court to get an injunction to halt renovations – an out-of-court settlement was reached – and the city stepped in to pay money owed by Grist Mill Ventures to the Historical Society.
