Westdale Mall auction set for April 19

If you've wanted to own a piece of Cedar Rapids retail history, you will soon get your chance.

Frew Development, which is supervising a $90 million redevelopment of Westdale Mall, has scheduled an auction for 9:30 a.m. April 19 to sell everything from restaurant equipment to trash cans.

'We have literally had hundreds of inquiries from people wanting to buy specific things like a bench,” said Lisa Rowe, vice president of Frew Development and Westdale general manager. 'It just became too much to manage, and we felt an auction was the best way to handle it.”

Westdale management locked the mall's doors on March 31, but the building will be open on the day of the sale.

Rowe said the sale will be open to the public and is expected to draw local residents as well as out-of-town bidders looking to buy store fixtures, hair salon and restaurant equipment, transformers, plants, planters, portable kiosks, shelving and many other items.

'The stores will be auctioned space by space,” Rowe said. 'For the most part, anything purchased that day will need to be removed that day. Anyone who buys an entire store space and needs time to disassemble things will have until April 25 to get it out.

'They will need to make an appointment and work with mall security to remove what they have purchased.”

Rowe said some common area items like the escalators and railings will be salvaged by D.W. Zinser before it demolishes the building.

'We don't know how long it will take. We've never auctioned a mall before,” Rowe said.

Backes Auction & Realty of Raymond, IA, will conduct the sale. Full payment with cash or certified funds will be required on the day of the sale and checks will need to be accompanied by a current bank letter of credit.

Everything will be sold on an 'as is” basis without warranties or guarantees.

l Comments: (319) 398-8366; george.ford@sourcemedia.net