PLCB launches eighth liquor license auction
Bids for 25 expired restaurant licenses due March 25
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) on Tuesday issued an invitation for bids to award 25 expired restaurant licenses in the eighth license auction since Act 39 became effective in August 2016.
The latest auction includes one license each in 25 counties including Berks, Delaware, and Montgomery. Licenses are also available in: Blair, Bucks, Clearfield, Dauphin, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Huntingdon, Lackawanna, Lawrence, Lebanon, Lehigh, Lycoming, Mercer, Monroe, Northampton, Philadelphia, Pike, Sullivan, Venango, Wayne and Westmoreland.
Bids for this latest restaurant license auction are due by noon on Monday, March 25. As has been the procedure in the past, this auction will use a sealed bid process, which has so far resulted in winning bids on 235 licenses offered in previous auctions. Bids will be opened Thursday, March 28, and auction winners will be determined soon thereafter.
The minimum bid for each license is $25,000, and each bid must be accompanied by a bid surety of $5,000 or 5 percent of the total bid amount — whichever is higher — to avoid frivolous and underfunded bids.
The highest responsive bidder for each license will win the right to submit an application for the license to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board within six months of the auction award. If bid payment is not received within two weeks of the auction award, the second-highest bidder will have the opportunity to apply for the license. Bids will be held in escrow by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, pending approval of the license application.
Revenue from the previous seven auctions totals $24.1 million, while another $4.9 million remains in escrow, pending license approvals.
Bidders with questions regarding the invitation for bids must submit inquiries via email to RA-LBLicenseAuction@pa.gov by noon on Monday, Feb. 11. Questions and answers will be posted to the Department of General Services e-marketplace website by 3 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 14.
Lists of winning bids from each of the seven previous auctions are available on the license auction page of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board website.
For more information about the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, visit lcb.pa.gov.
The minimum bid for each license is $25,000, and each bid must be accompanied by a bid surety of $5,000 or 5 percent of the total bid amount — whichever is higher — to avoid frivolous and underfunded bids.