At Thursday morning’s hearing, Borders attorney Dan Fliman confirmed that only eight stores drew bidders out of 150 small-format stores in the first round of auctions, which was cancelled. The second round, for large-format stores, is slated for Tuesday. Of the eight, seven were picked up by landlords who offered $10,000 consideration to terminate the leases. There were no other bidders. The eighth, in Snellville, Ga., drew one bidder in addition to the landlord, who came back and matched the offer of $150,000.
The judge approved the four sales agreements, which have been finalized for stores in: Northridge, Calif., taken by GGP Northridge Fashion Center, LP; Silver Spring, Md., PFA-B Silver Spring, LC; Arlington, Tex., Arlington Highlands, LTD; and Lone Tree, Colo., Park Meadows Mall, LLC. The remaining four will be finalized shortly: El Segundo, Calif., PES Partners LLC; Elk Grove, Calif., Donahue Schriber Realty Group; Snellville, Ga., Equity 1; and Novi, Mich., Novi Town Center Investors LLC.
The severance package totaling $1.75 million, or $125,000 per manager, was also approved with little discussion. As Borders lawyer Andrew Glen noted, “we’re not talking golden parachutes.”
