(Enlarge) Owners Steve and Pete Theodoropoulos say they will continue to run the former Monkton Hotel as a market and lease office space after a potential deal with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to buy the circa late-1800s building fell through. (File photo/2008)

The owners of the Monkton Hotel canceled the building's auction last June when they learned the Maryland Department of Natural Resources might be interested in buying the circa late-1800s landmark.

That sale fell through last week when the owners, brothers Steve and Pete Theodoropoulos, said the state's offer was too low.

"We're not putting it back on the market, and we're not going for auction. We'll continue to be here," said Steve Theodoropoulos, who lives in the building, is landlord and runs the Monkton Village Market on the first floor.

"We thought it would work out," he said. "We wanted to sell it to the state."

State officials declined to disclose their precise offer; Pete Theodoropoulos said simply that the offer was several hundred thousand dollars less than what he and his brother believe the three-story, brick building is worth.

The state was initially interested in buying the building because of its location. It shares a parking lot with the Monkton train station, which is now a Gunpowder Falls State Park ranger station on the Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail, formerly the Northern Central Railroad Bike & Hike Trail.

The three-story building at 1900 Monkton Road is on the National Register of Historic Places. As a hotel, it served people who came to Monkton on the Northern Central Railroad.

The Theodoropoulos brothers bought the former hotel in 2001. They opened the vegetarian Monkton Village Market and Harmony Cafe on the first floor, and rented office space on the upper floors.

Steve Theodoropoulos said the pending sale to the state caused them to lose potential tenants who did not want to sign leases if the state would become the landlord.

The 11,000-square-foot building was originally offered on the real estate market for $2.25 million. The price was reduced to $1.9 million before last June's auction was planned. The Theodoropoulos brothers paid $525,000 for the property, according to state land records.

"The state continues to be interested in the property," said Meredith Lathbury, with the DNR's division of land acquisition and planning. "We're hopeful we can find common ground in the future."

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