CHICAGO -- Some or all of bankrupt Gas City's 52 convenience stores will go on the auction block in coming weeks, although the exact deadline for bids to be submitted and an actual auction date have yet to be determined in court.
Gas City's creditors are contesting some of the details of proposed bidding procedures, with Illinois bankruptcy court judge Eugene R. Wedoff scheduled to make a ruling before the end of this year, according to court documents obtained by CSP Daily News.
Documents being considered show bids to purchase the properties will likely [image-nocss] be due Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011, with the actual auction to take place Wednesday, March 2, 2011.
Creditors, however, are questioning verbiage in the bidding procedures that would allow Gas City to "reserve the rightto exclude [some] stations from the sale at or prior to the auction."
The stores will likely be sold on an "as is, where is" basis "without representations or warranties of any kind."
A final court hearing to approve of the sale of the purchased sites to the successful bidders also needs to be determined.
Gas City filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection October 28, citing more than 1,000 creditors and estimated liabilities of more than $100 million, as previously reported by CSP Daily News. Published reports say that debt totals $365 million.
Gas City Ltd. is a Frankfort, Ill.-based, family-owned and -operated petroleum marketer and convenience-store chain with 52 locations (including nine Steel City truckstops) in northeast Illinois, northwest Indiana, Florida and Arizona, according to CSPedia. The company was founded in Chicago in 1966 with one convenience store by current president William J. McEnery.
(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of Gas City's bankruptcy.)
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