The commercial real estate market is currently a mess, but that could be good news for someone, now that an Italian restaurant and the property it sits on near Kalamazoo, Mich., is on the market for just a dollar.
Jim Sieklucki is selling his business, but he says it's an opportunity: With loans so tight, selling it outright wasn't the way to go, so Sieklucki said that selling the business for a buck could give a person who has the passion and talent a chance to open their own place.
His father opened the first pizzeria in Kalamazoo. "It was Lucky's, this was 1956," said Sieklucki, "and I decided to bring it back 50 years later."
Sieklucki opened his own Lucky's in October of 2006, but closed it in 2008. He said a bad partnership and health problems are forcing him to sell.
Here's how the dollar deal sale works: For $185, prospective buyers can fill out an application to get into a lottery. Sieklucki is looking for at least 1,600 applicants to recoup his long-term investment. Then he'll randomly pick two people to come in and cook for him and his family.
"Pizza, then an entrée of their own -- whatever they want, then we'll judge it and then decide who will get it," said Sieklucki.
The winner will get the business for just one dollar. Whoever gets the restaurant can walk right in; the place is ready to go, and everything inside the building is going to the new owner, said Sieklucki. But he isn't going far.
"I live right by here, so I will be visiting it," he said.
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