Auction closes with $6 million final bid for Pheasant Run Resort
An online auction for the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles ended Wednesday with a final bid of $6 million.
The Ten-X Commercial real estate website indicated the resort's undisclosed reserve - the minimum selling price established by the seller - had not been met, though it says a winning bidder could still be declared.
The auction on the 18.3-acre property at 4051 E. Main St. began Monday with a starting bid of $2 million.
The live bid process required a $25,000 participation deposit and had an initial bid increment of $500,000, though it was later lowered.
While bidding was mostly quiet the first two days, it picked up steam in the hours before the auction closed Wednesday afternoon. The name of the highest bidder has not been released.
The Pheasant Run listing has since been removed from the Ten-X Commercial website. Rich Lillis of Colliers International, the real estate company that has been marketing the site, declined to comment.
The iconic 57-year-old resort has been listed for sale since November, shortly after resort management announced plans to restructure operations and lay off 75% of its staff.
The 42 remaining employees were notified last month their jobs also are in jeopardy.
With 293 hotel rooms and seven restaurants, Pheasant Run was listed on the auction site as an "extraordinary lodging investment opportunity" with the potential for redevelopment and rebranding opportunities.
It operates 31,930 square feet of banquet and meeting space, a comedy club, a theater, an indoor/outdoor pool and an 18-hole golf course it leases from the DuPage Airport.
Built in 1963 on what was once a dairy farm, the resort in its heyday put St. Charles on the map as a premier entertainment destination. It continued expanding in size and scope the next couple of decades as founder Edward McArdle developed his vision for the property.
But Pheasant Run later struggled during the economic downturn and fell into foreclosure in 2011. The property was purchased three years later by an investment group, Saint Charles Resort LLC.
The resort typically generates $500,000 to $600,000 in tax revenue for St. Charles each year.
After the auction closed Wednesday, City Administrator Mark Koenen said he had not received any information regarding the highest bidder or the potential sale of the property. While the future of the resort remains uncertain, city officials have expressed a desire to partner with any new owner or developer to help revive the city's eastern gateway.