Judge Considers Mall Sale

The sale of the Village Square Mall earlier this week was the subject of a court hearing Thursday morning in Effingham County Circuit Court.

A hearing was scheduled to confirm the sale of the Mall to Square Southtown LLC. In the meantime, Durga Properties...who has been the Mall owner the past several years...filed an objection to the way the sale was conducted.

A term of the sale was that the purchaser had to produce at least 10% of the purchase price at the sale. While there were higher bids than the one submitted by Square Southtown LLC, those bidders...Durga Properties and LDI Properties...did not have the 10% on hand. Durga representatives asked for time to go and secure enough funds to reach 10%, but City Attorney Tracy Willenborg indicated that the 10% stipulation was a part of the bid guidelines and declined to honor a successful bid if the bidder didn't have the 10% at the time of the sale. That led to Square Southown LLC being declared the high bidder, and Sqaure Southtown had sufficient funds to cover 10% of the winning bid.

An attorney for Durga argued Thursday morning that "the sale was conducted improperly". Attorney for the City Kara Wade contended that it was wrong to expect the City and other parties to wait while a bidder went to attempt to secure enough funds to cover the 10%.

Judge Allan Lolie said he would take the matter under advisement, and would rule by Monday at the latest. The judge indicated that if he ruled in the City's favor that he would move ahead with confirming the sale to Square Southtown LLC