Sep. 20—The Legal Tender Saloon & Eating House property, restaurant and liquor license in Lamy will be going on the market soon, the property owner acknowledged.

The Legal Tender restaurant will keep operating on a limited basis until the property sells, said Sean Sinclair, the restaurant's chef and co-owner.

Sinclair has been scaling back at Legal Tender and now is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday for dinner, with Sunday brunch on hold until more staff is hired. The restaurant is also undergoing renovations.

Sinclair warns that diners should always check the Legal Tender Facebook page and make a reservation at legaltendersaloon.com before heading out.

"We are focusing on private events," Sinclair said. "We have tremendous success with private events."

Allan Affeldt, who owns the property, the largest share of the restaurant and the liquor license, has signed on with Sotheby's International Santa Fe broker Gary Bobolsky, who said the property, restaurant and liquor license would be listed in the coming days for $2.5 million.

Affeldt said he has invested $2 million in improvements for Legal Tender, including a complete revamp of the kitchen.

"My focus is on bigger projects," said Affeldt, who was a contender two years ago for master developer of Santa Fe's midtown campus. "We took on the Legal Tender because it's a great location. I'm fixing up the building so it's not too scary for someone else. If it sells, fine. If it doesn't sell, fine."

Affeldt said he has been approached by the city of Clovis to restore the Harvey House railroad property there.

Sinclair also owns the Bar Castañeda and private dining space Kin in the Castañeda Hotel in Las Vegas, N.M., which he opened in April 2019 and spring 2020, respectively. He had moved from Las Vegas to Santa Fe to operate Legal Tender but now is moving back to Las Vegas.

Affeldt owns both the Legal Tender property and Castañeda Hotel as well as the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas, N.M. Affeldt made his name as a historic railroad restoration enthusiast in the 1990s with the 1930 La Posada railroad hotel in Winslow, Ariz.

Sinclair reopened Legal Tender Sept. 25, 2021,, after Cafe Fina owner Murphy O'Brien was the first Legal Tender operator under Affeldt from late August 2019 and until the March 15, 2020, COVID-19 closure.

The Lamy Railroad & History Museum, then-owners of the Legal Tender, contacted Affeldt in 2018 after he had acquired the Plaza Hotel in receivership in 2014 and the Castañeda Hotel in 2017 and had largely restored the hotel by then.

The Lamy Railroad & History Museum board wanted to dissolve the museum and transferred ownership of the Legal Tender building and Pullman dining car across the street to Affeldt's Winslow Arts Trust at no cost in July 2018. The museum had owned the property since 2006.