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Premier Properties auction attracts no bids

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No bids were submitted today at an auction for control of 10 properties owned by Indianapolis-based Premier Properties USA Inc., the financially troubled development company run by Chris White.

That means Atlanta-based Dominion Capital Management LLC - one of Premier's largest lenders - will take control of the properties this afternoon and bring in property managers to operate them.

Dominion Capital has hired CB Richard Ellis to manage Premier's properties in Indianapolis. Those properties include the 600,000-square-foot Metropolis mall in Plainfield, a strip center called Plainfield Commons, and a parcel at 86th Street and Haverstick Road where another developer had proposed a Whole Foods.

Dominion Capital General Counsel Bill Armstrong said he would sign papers this afternoon that transfer control of most of the properties to Dominion. Control of the Metropolis mall in Plainfield has been transferred via a separate agreement.

Dominion Capital has received inquiries from several potential buyers, including one interested in buying all 10. Now that the properties have been offered publicly, as required by statute, those sales discussions are likely to continue privately, Armstrong said.

"We have lots of interest in the properties," Armstrong said after the auction. He added, "We have to go through this process."Nineteen people attended the hearing, but most were creditors of Premier or investors in Dominion, Armstrong said.

Among the attendees were two Premier executives: Chief Financial Officer Joshua Kane and General Counsel Bruce Smith.

A call to Smith after the auction was not immediately returned.

Dominion Capital has hired managers for Premier's other properties around the country, Armstrong said. They include several lifestyle malls in various stages of development: Sixteen West in Georgia; Bridgewater Falls in Ohio; The Foundry in Pennsylvania; The Marquis in Virginia; and The Current in Florida.

Premier and its founder, Christopher P. White, face numerous lawsuits alleging unpaid bills, defaulted loans, illegally redirected rent payments and check fraud. The company laid off half of its headquarters staff - about 40 employees - at the end of March.

The sale of Premier's real estate holdings could signal that an end is near for the 15-year-old company, which built its name on outsize deals with little margin for error but has sputtered since credit markets tightened and easy credit disappeared.

The auction was organized by Ice Miller attorney Henry Efroymson. After adjourning the auction, he said it was, "Much ado about nothing."


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  1. City-County Councilor Angela Mansfield and Bob Lutz have a case of wishful thinking.

    They obviously don't really care about the cost.

    They should.

    Extending Federal Benefits to Same-Sex Couples Will Cost $898M, CBO Says

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/22/extending-federal-benefits-sex-couples-cost-m-cbo-says/

  2. Brett, be careful what you lie about, the truth always comes out.

    "IMS's George Honored: Tony George, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and chief executive officer, received the inaugural Pioneering and Innovation Award at the Autosport Awards Dec. 5 in London for his leadership in the development of the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) Barrier. George received the award at the annual gala at the Grosvenor House on behalf of the creators of the SAFER Barrier from Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the leader of the Bahrain International Grand Prix circuit. This is the fourth major award that has been presented to honor George and the SAFER Barrier development team. The SAFER Barrier also received the Louis Schwitzer Award, SEMA Motorsports Engineering Award and GM Racing Pioneer Award in 2002. The SAFER Barrier was installed in all four turns of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway a pioneer in safety for drivers, cars and tracks -- in time for the 86th Indianapolis 500 in 2002. It since has been installed at more than a dozen other tracks, and the latest iteration will be installed at the Speedway in the spring.(IMS PR), see more on my Indy Track News page.(12-7-2004)"

    As far as the cart safety team, I cannot find anything on its date of creation. The Delphi Safety team was created in 1996. For some reason there is not much info out there on defunct racing series.

  3. Great article Anthony. Glad IMS is finally being run like a business and not a personal check book to finance the "Vision".

    Things are looking up but 15 years of scorched earth won't be fixed overnight. Unfortunately the TV ratings are still poor and that won't change anytime soon with the brilliant 10 year contract signed under the former regime.

  4. Brett not sure why you wonder what he said in his quote. "''I would like to jump in a time machine, go back to 1995, and tell the owners and Tony George not to split,'' Franchitti said. ''As soon as my time machine is done, I know where I'm going.''"

    Pretty clear, he would love to go back and tell TG and the team owners not to split.

    I am not sure there is anyone who wanted the split, and I don't think there is anyone who would not like to go back and prevent the split. But, as has been discussed ad nauseum, without the split carts management by team owners would have run all of ow racing into bankruptcy. If cart had such a wonderful product, then losing IMS would not have forced it into bankruptcy. If NASCAR lost Daytona or Charlotte, it would not fail like cart did.

    Truth,

    So you predicted that cart would go into bankruptcy and cease to exist while Indycar would continue on? I missed that prediction.

  5. I want to live in a city that has a garage structure to be proud of for it's innovating design!

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