By Shereen Siewert
WAUSAU —A Sheriff auction of the Wausau Center mall has been postponed for the second time in less than a month, one day before the property was scheduled for sale.
Initially, the sale was to take place July 11. That date was moved to July 18, but on Monday the date was again reset, this time for July 25.
A confirmation of sale hearing is set for Aug. 14 in Marathon County Circuit Court, where the order foreclosure was filed June 5.
No explanation has been given for the delay.
Earlier this year, CBL & Associates Properties, the former owner of Wausau Center, turned its nearly $18 million mortgage back to the bank, essentially walking away from the property. Court documents indicate Wells Fargo Bank initially issued the loan.
When CBL defaulted on the loan, Rialto Capital Management of Miami hired Mid-America Real Estate Group of Milwaukee to take over the mall. Last summer, Economic Development Director Chris Schock positioned the move as “good for Wausau.”
Wausau Center is back on a list of properties managed by Mid-America Real Estate Group, though the mall did not appear on the list several weeks ago. Calls and emails to Mid-America have not been returned.
The foreclosure order, signed by Circuit Judge Greg Huber, states that the premises cannot be sold in parcels but will be sold at public auction under the direction of the Marathon County Sheriff at a “time and manner provided by law.” The lender is free to bid on the property at auction but is not required to do so. Other bidders could also come forward.
If the lender does not win the auction, all proceeds from the sale will be applied to the amount due the lender, according to the order. As of May 30, the total amount due was listed as $18,922,717 including principal, interest, default interest and late penalties. Additional penalties are accruing daily.
This is turning into more and more of a freaking comedy. I’d wager (pun intended) the “behind the scenes scuffling” is at an epic level, but no matter what happens, I have the eerie feeling that the application of lipstick to this pig will only continue to drain the city of Wausau taxpayers.
Bet me.
Maybe the City will buy it and it will be our new jail. At least the Sears building could be used for jail overflow. Maybe the inmates could have a store and run it to make some money for the City of Wausau. Hey, now there’s an idea. Put them to work. That way, instead of doing nothing all day and being useless, draining our taxpayer money, they can actually work and contribute to their own support.
Umm…….I hate to break this to you, but the Sears store was already sold for a whopping $1 do Micon (sp?) Cinema. Oh, that’s AFTER our mental midgets at City Hall paid $500k for it. Supposedly (I believe right here on this site) the “plan” is to separate the old Sears bldg. from the mall and have a gathering area between the mall and the entrance to the cinema…….all of this is IF the cinema ever gets built. It seems as though the same “delays” with the mall auction are happening with the start of construction for the cinema, which will probably flop in 2 or 3 yrs after (IF) it opens.
As for inmates having a “store”…….umm…….no thanks. A store of what, exactly? How about they have them clean up city streets and parks? Do actual physical labor, other than sitting on their fannies getting 3 squares a day for doing nothing would be a quite novel concept. Then again, what in the hell am I dreaming about? The tree hugging, ACLU-type crowd would squeal like it’s going out of style and file lawsuits for “unjust punishment, humiliation and some sort of civil rights violation”. Plus, I’m sure the city employees who are supposed to be doing those things would also have a cranial explosion. Silly me. Never mind.