'The scheduled national sales bidding event for the properties is being coordinated by Northbrook, IL-based Hilco Real Estate LLC.

Nine of Jacobson's properties, or 25% of its 2.16-million-sf portfolio, are in Florida where the retailer gambled in 1963 by opening Southeast-based units to accommodate loyal customers who had retired and relocated.

The deadline for submitting bids was Sept. 6. Hilco's Web site shows the Florida properties total 557,148 sf. On the auction block are 11 fee-owned properties, two ground leases and seven conventional leases, both long-term in the 20-year to 85-year range.

The estimated value of the assets is $120 million, the Detroit Free Press reported in July. Jacobson's would net 42% of the sales revenue or about $50 million, the paper reported. Officials at Jacobson's and Hilco couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline.

But an Orlando retail consultant tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity the sale of Jacobson's Florida portfolio is "one of the largest we have ever seen in Central Florida, either by a local or national retailer."

Jacobson officials previously confirmed in published reports they could not find a buyer for the properties.

The company filed for Chapter 11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code Jan. 15 after defaulting on $150 million in loans in November 2001.

Jacobson's two-owned Florida properties are the two-story, 80,000-sf store on 4.05 acres in the Grande Boulevard Mall, Jacksonville, FL; and the 84,400-sf distribution center on 7.75 acres at 245 Driggs Drive, Winter Park, FL.

Two ground leases for sale are at Jacobson's 25,200-sf store at 443 St. Armand's Circle, Sarasota, FL where the lease expires Dec. 31, 2014 at annual rent of $39,600 or about $9.54 per sf on a 15-year contract.

The other ground lease is at the Bell Tower Shops in Fort Myers, FL where Jacobson's has been paying yearly rent of $18,000 at its 51,000-sf store. That lease ends Dec. 23, 2085.

Conventional leases for sale take in the 23,300-sf store at 339 N. Park Ave., Winter Park, FL where the lease ends Jan. 31, 2003 at annual rent of $60,000; and the 60,000-sf store at the Renaissance Center, Altamonte Springs, FL where the lease ends July 31, 2021 at annual rent of $660,000.

Outside of Orlando, Jacobson's conventional leases comprise the 79,922-sf store at Mizner Park, Boca Raton, FL, where the lease ends July 31, 2022 at annual rent of $1.27 million; the 63,000-sf store at Waterside Shops, Naples, FL where the annual rent is $1.24 million on a lease that expries Nov. 30, 2012; and the 90,326-sf store at Oak Brook Square, North Palm Beach, FL, where the rent and lease expiration was not posted by Hilco.

Jacobson's other owned properties being sold are in Birmingham, MI, two stores; Jackson, MI; Ann Arbor, MI; East Grand Rapids, MI; Rochester Hills, MI; Grosse Pointe, MI; Livonia, MI; and Saginaw, MI.

The company is also selling its leasing contracts at stores in Okemos, MI; Lousville, KY; Indianapolis, IN; and Leawood, KS.