Shuttered Alsip banquet hall to hit auction block this year

A shuttered banquet hall in the southern Chicago suburb of Alsip is set to hit the auction block.

The Chateau Bu-Sche, at 11535 South Cicero Avenue in Alsip, closed its doors on Dec. 31 and will go up for auction September 13, the Daily Southtown reported. The 11-acre property, with a 26,000-square-foot building and 325 parking spaces, has been valued at about $12.5 million and the suggested opening bid is $2.5 million.

“It’s been a very popular venue,” Rick Levin, principal of Rick Levin & Associates, the Chicago-based company holding the auction, told the outlet. “It could be so many things,” he said, noting that replicating it would cost more than $10 million.

Since the auction involves the real estate and not the business, the site could be used for something other than a banquet hall. A buyer could repurpose it as medical offices, retail space, senior housing or a hotel, Levin’s firm said. Alsip Mayor John Ryan said he hopes the property will continue to be run as a banquet facility as it would require minimal updates before reopening.

“That’s a turnkey operation,” Mayor Ryan told the outlet. “It’s ready for any banquet operator.”

If the buyer chooses not to use the property to host weddings and other events, Ryan said using the space for retail might be the next best option.

The auction for what Levin called an “unusual property” will be held through sealed bids.

[DS] — Victoria Pruitt