10-07-2025
Former home of the Anchor restaurant has a new owner after nail-biter auction
As the clock ticked town, the price went up. And up. And up.
And now, the former home of the Anchor at 1109 E. Douglas and the two buildings next to it have a new owner — although that new owner has not yet been identified.
On Wednesday afternoon, an auction for the building and its contents concluded in nail-biting fashion — for someone. Braden McCurdy, who conducted the online auction for his McCurdy Real Estate & Auction Services, said he could not provide the name of the winner without permission.
But when the auction countdown clock expired at 2:30 p.m., the high bid was $1,775,000. The bid shot up from $1,750,000 with one minute and 12 seconds left on the auction clock. About an hour after the auction closed, McCurdy updated the auction website to say that the property was sold for $1,952,500, which is the $1,775,000 bid plus a 10% buyer's premium.
The Eagle reached out to three local business people who'd been bidding on the property, but all said they had not won the auction and did not know who had.
Meanwhile, a second auction for the contents of the buildings — kitchen equipment, the famous Anchor neon sign, tables and chairs — that was scheduled to end 15 minutes after the first auction was paused in the final seconds, when the bid had reached $40,000. About an hour later, McCurdy updated the auction page to say that the final price had been $44,000.
On Thursday of last week, after McCurdy put on an open house at the properties, the high bid on the three buildings was $500,000. At the time, the reserve price for the business assets and fixtures that made up the second auction was $75,000 and had not yet been met.
Throughout the day on Wednesday, the high bid on the buildings slowly crept up from $1 million at 9:40 a.m. to $1.1 million at 10:50 a.m. to $1.4 million at 2 p.m. Minutes later, the bid reached $1.7 million then $1.75 million.
Meanwhile, the reserve price on the equipment and business assets had fallen from the original $75,000 to $35,000 at 9:40 a.m. Wednesday. That price was finally met after the property auction ended, then the bid for the equipment and business assets went up to $40,000 before the auction was paused.
The grand total of the sale was $1,996,500.
The Anchor, which owner Schane Gross originally opened in 2004, had been closed for several weeks when, on April 30, agents from the Kansas Department of Revenue showed up to seize the restaurant, the two properties attached to it at 1113 and 1115 E. Douglas, and all of the buildings' contents.
A few days later, the Kansas Department of Revenue issued a news release that said it had executed warrants for nonpayment of sales, withholding and liquor drink tax totaling $32,549.07. The release also said that the seized assets would be sold at a public auction and that proceeds would pay for delinquent taxes.
On Wednesday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Revenue said that any money raised from the auction that is above the tax debt owed would either be returned to the former property owner or sent to other creditors.
Watch for updates about the new owners of the buildings as information becomes available.
Potential buyers walk through the Anchor space ahead of upcoming auction
The Anchor in Wichita has been seized by state officials for nonpayment of taxes
Owner of Wichita restaurant that closed after 5 months reflects on what went wrong
