Rare Auction For A New Jersey Liquor License

CHERRY HILL, NJ (CBS) - It's not every day that a New Jersey liquor license gets put up for bid, but an auction is set this morning for one in the Cherry Hill area.

Most times, these licenses are sold as part of an overall real estate transaction for a bar or restaurant. But, when Swanky Bubbles went belly up, a bankruptcy judge ordered the license be auctioned off to satisfy a more-than $1-million debt.

Jeff Lucas, one-time Cherry Hill economic development director, can't remember that ever happening there before. But over the last few years, the restaurant landscape in the town has been changing.

"If two people show up and they both want this license bad enough, we don't know where it's going to go."

Lucas, who now runs business development for Rose Commercial Real Estate in Marlton, has seen licenses in Cherry Hill go for as little as $325-thousand and as much as $1.5-million. His guess is that this license will sell for somewhere in between.

Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio 1060