GRAND RAPIDS - Sporting goods retailer MC Sports will soon be offering up its leases for bid.
The Grand Rapids-based company is currently going through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy process and announced yesterday that it's working with Melville, N.Y.-based real estate firm A&G Realty Partners LLC to sell its remaining 58 leases in locations around the Midwest.
“We believe (the leases) have value,” A&G Realty Partners principal Michael Jerbich told MiBiz, although he declined to disclose how much total value the leases may bring in.
Essentially, retailers interested in any of the locations would assume all terms of the leases as though they were MC Sports, Jerbich said.
Bids for the locations are due on April 7 with an auction to be held on April 11. Any leases that don’t get sold would be rejected as part of the Chapter 11 process and handed back to the landlords.
Commercial brokers focused on the retail market previously told MiBiz that they’re fairly “bullish” on the overall retail sector, but also noted that many locations might need to be split up in order to accommodate new tenants.
A&G Realty Partners’ Jerbich said that scenario is possible in certain locations, but noted that doing so could complicate matters.
“Typically a tenant would take the entire space,” he said of the lease-selling process.
The company initially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Michigan in mid-February, citing weak Black Friday sales last November after making significant capital investments in many of its 68 retail stores as the core driver for the move to liquidate.
The company has retained New York-based Tiger Capital LLC and Great American Group LLC to manage the store closings.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated with the correct headquarter locations of A&G Realty Partners LLC and Tiger Capital LLC.
