Immediate Auction Held for Jacobson Properties

JACKSON, MI-The 23 remaining properties of the bankrupt Jacobson Stores Inc. are now up for auction. Hilco Real Estate of Northbrook, IL is accepting bids for the department stores, as well as the chain’s headquarters here.

The store properties range in size from a 1-acre, 30,000-sf store in Birmingham, MI to the 60-acre, 238,000-sf headquarters facility.

About half are available for sale, while the other half are available for lease.

“It’s just a portfolio comprised of fabulous real estate,” says Josh Joseph of Hilco. “They are a grand opportunity for investors, retailers and developers.”

The deadline for the bid process is yet to be determined, Joseph tells GlobeSt.com.

“We’re accepting offers on individual and packages of properties. We just need to acquire letters of intent,” Joseph says.

Jacobson’s, a regional specialty store chain, filed a Chapter 11 petition for reorganization on Jan 15 with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, in Detroit, after a loss of more than $57 million in 2001.

The company closed five under-performing stores in Columbus, OH; Toledo, OH; Clearwater, FL; Osprey, FL and Tampa.

The Toledo store sold for $11.7 million. Leases for the other properties were rejected, Joseph reports.

The 23 remaining stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas and Florida are still open, Joseph says.

While it now appears that the department store chain is going under, the company had tried to bolster reorganization plans in January, when it reached agreements with Fleet Retail Finance Inc. and Back Bay Capital Funding L.L.C., both of Boston, for a $130-million commitment to provide debtor-in-possession financing.

The company has until Aug. 31 to give a reorganization plan to the bankruptcy court.