A centerpiece in Sequim’s landscape is up for sale.

Following the closure of El Cazador restaurant, 531 W. Washington St., owners are selling the building and the historical Clallam Co-op granary.

Gary Morgan, accountant for El Cazador and its EC Sequim Properties LLC out of Mount Vernon, said the Mexican restaurant closed on March 3.

El Cazador opened in 1981 but closed due to declining revenues, Morgan said.

The building and granary go to a trustee’s sale, a public auction, on April 27 if the facility is not sold.

“We didn’t want to close,” Morgan said. “We’d prefer to sell before the trustee’s sale.”

Morgan said the site is going for $600,000. For more information, call Morgan at 425-775-6060.

A tall piece of history

El Cazador served as a landmark business for 33 years in Sequim and the grain elevator’s site dates back to the early 20th century.

Prior to the elevator was a lettuce shed constructed by the Peninsula Grain company next to the former train tracks. In the 1920s, local farmers stored their produce in the shed prior to shipment on the train but the business closed and in 1935 Cecil Dawley purchased the building.

He operated a feed and farm machinery store there through 1941 and leased both the business and site to the Clallam Co-operative Association. The Clallam Co-op purchased the building in 1945 and added the vertical addition to operate the new grain elevator and silos.

In the 1950s and 1960s Sequim farmers began raising seed for several vegetables. Several farmers began growing a high-quality grass seed for golf courses in the late 1960s and founded the Dungeness Agricultural Supply. They bought the granary in 1969 and added a garden and farming supply retail store to its other operations.

In 1977, the granary operation ended, but remained the centerpiece of the Landmark Mall, now Serenity Square. El Cazador moved into the space four years later.

Kathy Sievert and Mark Couhig contributed to this report.