The bottom level of the Professional Bull Riders building on the Riverwalk has been sold by the city. [CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/ANTHONY A. MESTAS] ▲

A deal City Council has made to sell two condominium units it owns on the ground level of the Professional Bull Riders building at 101 W. Riverwalk will clear the way for a new restaurant to be located at one of those units.

Council members unanimously approved an agreement for the city to sell units 1A and 1B at the PBR building to a company based out of Boulder called Cyrus Investments, LLC for approximately $850,000. The sale proceeds will be paid into the city's sales and use tax capital improvements project fund.

The deal is contingent upon approval from the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo Authority.

The owner of the business wants to move its engineering company here and will have nine of its engineers work in one of the units.

The other unit will house a full-service restaurant with a liquor license as the deal stipulates that Cyrus is obligated, within two years after the closing of the sale, to construct a restaurant and bar in one of the units. In the event that the restaurant is not constructed, Cyrus has agreed to pay the city liquidated damages in the amount of $20,000, according to the agreement.

Mayor Nick Gradisar said the owner of the business is interested in moving engineers here because he acquired some 1,000 acres of land near an airport in Colorado City and the company designs drones for the government.

"This deal has some economic development possibilities with it that I think are exciting," Gradisar said. "It will be for the purpose of bringing some good, highly educated, high-paying jobs to the city of Pueblo."

The city has owned the units for about six years, and has been vacant since it was built. A previous attempt to sell the units in August failed.

Councilman Bob Schilling said he is excited about the deal.

"We're lucky that somebody came in because we've sat with this thing and maintained it. It costs us a lot of money to maintain that property," Schilling said. "This is a wonderful thing to get. We get some money out of the deal and employ some people. People had a vision that you would only have a restaurant there. But if that was really possible, it would've been done years ago."

rseverance@chieftain.com

Twitter: RyanSevvy