Alamo Group has Inside Track for Emporium Leaseholds

PORTLAND-If no higher offers are made at next week’s leasehold auction in Portland, Eugene, Ore.-based Troutman’s Emporium has agreed to sell all but four of its 34 retail leases to Alamo Group, an Alamo, Calif.-based company in the business of acquiring such assets and then finding big box tenants to fill the space.

About 60% of Emporium stores are located in Oregon. The rest of the stores are located in Washington, Idaho, California and Nevada. The leaseholds, which range from 16,000 sf to 80,000 sf, are at rates that for the most part are well below market rates. The auction is being held at the 5th Avenue Suites Hotel in Downtown Portland at 11 a.m. on March 10.

Don Gaube of Alamo Group could notimmediately be reached on Wednesday for comment. Al Smith, the Perkins Coie lawyer representing the bankrupt department store chain tells GlobeSt.com that there is considerable interest in the leaseholds on the part of various landlords who want to control their own individual properties. When asked if the properties would be auctioned individually, Smith said it was a difficult question to answer.