Last updated on May 17th, 2016 at 08:58 am
Three former Joe Caputo & Sons grocery stores in Algonquin, Palatine and Des Plaines, Illinois, soon will be under new ownership. Butera Finer Foods/Piggly Wiggly Midwest was the single, highest bidder in an auction held yesterday at the Hyatt Rosemont in Chicago. More than 100 people were in attendance.
Joe Caputo & Sons and Anthony Marano Co., hired Murray Wise Associates and Paine Wetzel to conduct the auction. Marano is the produce company based in Chicago that was granted the power to auction off the Caputo assets to settle the grocer’s $3.6 million debt.
Joe Bubon of Murray Wise Associates, the auction company, and Edward Wabick with commercial real estate firm Paine Wetzel talked to The Shelby Report’s Geoff Welch after the auction.
“The result you saw was the culmination of six to eight weeks worth of effort on our company’s behalf and Paine Wetzel,” Bubon said. “We worked closely with Ed and his team and did a lot of knocking on doors, a lot of handing out brochures, determining who’s interested, who’s not interested, trying to establish some rapport with those buyers and get them the information they needed so they could make an informed bid. We want them to have all their questions answered so they’re comfortable bidding. We want them to bid as much as they’re able to and willing to.”
The winning bid totaled $32 million. The grocery stores’ fixtures, inventory and related operating assets were included.
Two of the stores are currently in operation. The third is a vacant, former Dominick’s store. Joe Caputo & Sons had purchased the store, but never opened it.
“We felt that the northwest suburbs, as far as real estate was concerned, was prime real estate in prime areas with established stores, so we felt we hit the mark,” he said. “From an equipment standpoint, fixtures, it all came about how we expected. We’re very happy.”
The three properties total 268,800 s.f. of retail space on 30.25 acres, and include the:
- 67,550-s.f. store at 100 South Randall Road, Algonquin;
- 66,233-s.f. Fox Fire Plaza, 2070 North Rand Road, Palatine, which includes a 47,842-s.f. grocery store; and
- 135,004-s.f. The Oaks Shopping Center, Lee Street, Des Plaines, which includes a 63,863-s.f. former Dominick’s store.
Butera also acquired the fixtures, equipment and inventory of the Caputo store at 959 East Oakton Street in Des Plaines.
Wabick and Bubon said that having the auction company and real estate firm work together was a key for success.
“They brought their expertise. We brought our expertise and we’d love to do it again,” Bubon said.
The sale still must get approval from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division. A closing date is expected in mid-June.
