Chicago Illinois Real Estate Blog

A venture that includes the owners of a frozen food company has won the right to buy a 4.8-acre development site near Bubbly Creek in Bridgeport after a Bankruptcy Court auction failed to attract another bid.

Chicago-based Construction Import Solutions LLC agreed to pay a hefty $1 million for the option to buy the vacant parcel near Archer Avenue and Pitney Court, according to an Aug. 5 court order approving the sale.

The auction was intended to determine if another bidder would pay more for the option.

Construction Imports acquired the option from J.S. II LLC, a venture that developed the nearby 115-unit Bridgeport Village but filed for protection from creditors last year amid a dispute between developer Thomas Snitzer and his former partners John J. Kinsella and Sid Diamond.

After paying J.S. II $1 million for the option, Construction Imports must still pay about $3.56 million, or $17 per square foot, for the land, which is owned by Peoples Gas Light & Coke Co., a unit of Chicago-based Integrys Energy Group Inc.

Construction Imports is co-owned by Max Tsai and his mother, Sandy Tsai, who are also owners of Baily International Inc., a manufacturer of egg rolls, chicken nuggets and other appetizers based near St. Louis. Their partner in buying the option is Spiros Picoulas, vice-president of acquisitions at Chicago-based real estate firm Frankel Giles & Associates Inc. That firm was not involved in the deal.

A Baily division, AA Superb Food Corp., is located at 3823 S. Halsted St., near the development site.

The parcel at 3000-52 S. Pitney Court site is zoned industrial, but Mr. Tsai says the venture may seek a residential rezoning. The option doesn’t begin until an ongoing environmental cleanup supervised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is completed, a task that could take several years, says Mr. Tsai, who is chief operating officer of Baily. The option expires 120 days after the cleanup is finished.
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