After 42 years, this Fort Collins fixture is closing its doors on Mulberry Street

After more than 40 years, a Fort Collins fixture on the eastern edge of town is closing its doors.

Sundance Steakhouse & Saloon, 2716 E. Mulberry St., will shutter at midnight July 26, according to an announcement posted to the Sundance Facebook page early Sunday morning.

The bar, restaurant and music venue — once known for its "Wild West" reputation complete with covered wagons, a mechanical bull and 25-cent drink specials — is closing at the end of its lease. The decision comes after the business was "not able to come to a fair agreement with the property owners to ensure appropriate renovations were completed to extend our lease," the Sunday announcement read.

The business had spent around six to nine months looking into options to stay open or move to a new location, Sundance's owner Nicole Hendrix told the Coloradoan over text Monday. While Hendrix said the property's owners did ultimately agree to cover some necessary renovations, "the cost of updating such a large building with the history of this one exceeds half a million dollars, conservatively, and would disrupt business for quite a while," she added.

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The 12,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1947 and remodeled in 1991, according to Larimer County property records. It has been owned by Missouri-based S and H Inc. since 1978, records also show.

While Sundance is saying goodbye to its longtime home, the business is still trying to examine whether its story ends there or if it might find success in a new location, according to the Facebook announcement.

Sundance Steakhouse & Saloon opened in its East Mulberry Street home in 1982 — drawing crowds to the outskirts of town for dinner, live country music, weekly dancing lessons, Texas Hold ‘em and pool tournaments and, until 2022, off-track horse and dog race betting. The business changed hands multiple times before Hendrix and her then-husband, Kyle Scott, purchased it from longtime owner Mike Poppenwimer in June 2016. Hendrix bought out Scott's portion of the business roughly four years later, she told the Coloradoan in 2021.

Since the decision to shutter Sundance was made recently, Hendrix said she and her 10-person staff are still trying to wrap their heads around the news. As of Monday, there were no special events planned to mark Sundance's closure.

"We will be focusing on honoring our history by exploring all options for parties or events as we continue to assess the future of Sundance in the community," Hendrix said.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Sundance Steakhouse & Saloon in Fort Collins is closing