Hawthorne could be sold via a stalking horse bid in early July
Attorneys for Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, Ill.,
said during a hearing on Tuesday in bankruptcy court that the track continues
to receive bids that would allow an auction to proceed in the first week of
July, according to racing officials who participated in the hearing.
The attorneys informed the judge in the case, Timothy
Barnes of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, that
the track is pursuing the identification of a “stalking horse” bid that would
allow the auction to take place on July 7, in accordance with a previous
schedule approved by the court.
Last week, Hawthorne filed a motion asking the court to
extend a June 26 deadline for evaluating bids by roughly five weeks, but the
track withdrew the motion on Monday after a large number of its creditors filed
objections to the extension.
In last week’s motion, Hawthorne said that it had
received offers from “over 50 persons/entities” for the track and its property,
located on approximately 100 acres on the south Chicago metro area.
The attorneys said during the Tuesday hearing that the track
may come back to the court within the next several days to seek approval for
the stalking horse bid. It’s also possible that the track comes back to the
court next week to seek an extension, officials said.
Under a stalking horse process, the court approves a bid
at a set price under certain parameters. To win the auction, any other
potential bidders must exceed the price while meeting all the criteria set in
the stalking horse bid.
Hawthorne, which filed for bankruptcy in late February,
is owned by dozens of descendants of its founder, Thomas Carey. Although the
Illinois Legislature approved a casino at the track in 2019, the track’s
financial condition has deteriorated throughout the past six years, and,
according to track officials, plans to partner with companies to build a casino
at the track failed to materialize.
Track officials have said that they are ideally seeking a
partner that could continue racing at the track while building out a casino.
Under the 2019 legislation, the casino license is tied to the racing license.
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