The Brown Palace Hotel and Spa was listed for sale, a spokesperson with commercial real estate firm Newmark confirmed Tuesday.

The Brown Palace is one of the oldest-running hotels in Denver. Its current owner, Crescent Real Estate, bought the building and the Holiday Inn Express in 2018 for $125 million, according to property records. The sale was first reported by BusinessDen.

Crescent Real Estate and a spokesperson for the Brown Palace did not respond to The Denver Gazette for comment. Newmark gave no further details and directed questions to the owners.

It’s still unclear how much the hotel is listed for.

The Brown Palace first opened in 1892, during the Gilded Age when people were flocking to strike gold or silver in Denver and the rest of the West. Due to its storied history, its halls are filled with tales of paranormal activity that has led it to be named one of the “Most Haunted Hotels” in the U.S. in 2025 by the Historic Hotels of America.

The hotel is located at 321 17th St. in Upper Downtown, which was hit hard by the pandemic and construction on 16th Street. The area around it — concentrated with older office towers — is a major point of focus for city leaders to attract back visitors.

The hotel also had a fire in 2022 in its basement that damaged the building’s boilers, 9News reported.

Last year, in an effort to lure back Denver locals and guests to dine at the hotel, The Brown Palace promoted a fixed-price menu for $49 at the Palace Arms — months after the restaurant briefly closed in 2024 and then a new management company Highgate Hotels took over in 2025.

Texas-based Crescent Real Estate refinanced the Brown Palace in 2024 with a loan from New York-based Benefit Street Partners, a subsidiary of Franklin Templeton, for $62.5 million, according to city records.

The loan is set to expire in February 2027 with the possibility to extend it by another year or two.

Troy Furbay, Crescent’s managing director and head of hospitality, told BusinessDen the company owned the hotel longer than originally planned because of how the pandemic disrupted the industry.

He also said the building has challenges because of its age and the company is looking for a buyer who is “well capitalized” to take on the historic property.

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. It was Denver’s socialite hotspot and it attracted celebrities from all over the nation, such as Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison and former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, according to the Historic Hotels of America.

It was constructed by Henry Cordes Brown. The building was designed by Frank E. Edbrooke, who was also the architect behind Denver’s Central Presbyterian Church and the Masonic Temple Building.

The hotel has 241 rooms, six dining establishments, a spa, fitness center, afternoon tea service and nearly 20,000 square feet of event space.

The hotel is one of Denver’s historical and cultural icons, said John Deffenbaugh, the CEO of Historic Denver.

His first reaction to a potential sale? Curiousity.

“When a building like this hits the market, there’s obviously going to be a lot of curiosity about what the future has in store for this property because so many people are invested in its story,” he said.

But historical buildings like this comes with its challenges, he added.

The Brown Palace’s sandstone exterior is vulnerable to erosion in Colorado’s climate. It’s stained glass windows also require maintenance and he hopes the next owner will work with Historic Denver to keep it preserved.

“They (older buildings) anchor us and they tell our stories, but they do require ongoing maintenance to ensure that those stories can continue to be told into the future,” Deffenbaugh said. “And the Brown Palace is no different.”