The first auction for Borders stores scheduled for today was
cancelled after the company received two bids for a store in Georgia and
one qualified bid each for seven other stores that had been slated for the first round, according to a statement released by lawyers for
Borders yesterday. While there will be a telephone auction for that
store, the auction for the second round of stores is still
scheduled to take place Sept.13. As previously reported, the
first group contains mainly leases that must be assumed or broken by
Sept. 30, as well as leases for some smaller stores, while the second
group contains leases that do not fall into those categories.
– Miranda Neubauer [more]

Borders has received court permission to auction its name and real estate assets, as it continues to go through its liquidation process, Reuters reported. A U.S. bankruptcy judge gave Borders permission to split its remaining leases into two groups and hold auctions for them Aug. 31 and Sept. 13. The first group comprises mainly leases that must be assumed or broken by Sept. 30, as well as leases for some smaller stores. All leases that do not fall into those categories would then be auctioned in the second round. Hearings to approve the auction results would be scheduled for Sept. 8 and Sept. 20, respectively.

Borders agreed to extend the deadlines after more than 20 landlords and landlord groups complained that the initial plan gave them too little time to evaluate if buyers could meet the obligations of the acquired leases. [more]

A Books-A-Million store and a Borders store

Books-A-Million has withdrawn its bid to purchase 30 of the Borders Group’s retail spaces after the two companies failed to agree on terms and going out of business sales at certain locations, Bloomberg News reported.

“We worked exhaustively in an effort to acquire these stores and reach agreements with all of the parties whose consent was necessary,” Books-A-Million CEO Clyde Anderson said. “Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful.”

Alabama-based Books-A-Million offered to buy 21 super-stores and nine smaller ones July 21, the day that Borders got approval from bankruptcy courts to liquidate all its assets.
[more]

From left: James Avallone of DJM Realty, Benjamin Fox of Massey Knakal, Gary Alterman of RKF, Borders at 2 Penn Plaza and the Borders at 10 Columbus Circle (Columbus Circle credit: Westside Rag)

Earlier this week official word came down that Borders Group would be
closing its remaining 300 retail outlets, two of which are prized retail
spaces in Manhattan, so it should come as no surprise that suitors for
the soon-to-be available spaces at Columbus Circle and Herald Square
are swooning.

“I can’t say anything in detail but yes, there is lots of interest,” said
James Avallone, senior managing director of Melville, N.Y.-based DJM
Realty, which was hired to handle the liquidation and lease transfers of Borders’ 399
remaining real estate holdings in the United States. [more]

Borders Group has hired New York-based DJM Realty to manage the disposition of all its remaining stores in the United States, Business First reported. The bookstore chain, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, intends to liquidate all stores after a bankruptcy auction scheduled for yesterday failed to attract sufficient bids.

It will ask a court tomorrow for permission to liquidate and may start closing stores as early as Friday. In total, Borders has 399 stores and 258 remaining leases available for assignment.

“This group of Borders’ stores has generated very strong interest from retailers,” Andy Graiser, co-president of DJM Realty, said in a statement. “With a lack of new real estate development and restrictive barriers of entry in several key markets, surplus real estate like Borders becomes a very good opportunity for a number of growing retailers looking to open for business during the next four to 12 months.” [more]

The national book retailer Borders has slashed by 18 percent the price
to sublease the space it rents in a commercial cooperative space that
developer Cohen Brothers Realty purchased this month in the Ritz Tower
in Midtown.
Last year Borders offered to sublease four floors of retail space it is
renting in the tower at 465 Park Avenue at 57th Street, for $4.3
million, sources said, in anticipation of closing the store. Now, Borders is asking $3.5 million per year for the site, according to
Robin Abrams, executive vice president of Lansco, which has been
marketing the lease in coordination with DJM Realty of Long Island
since June. [more]