Hobby Lobby to buy St. Gregory’s

SHAWNEE — Hobby Lobby has agreed to pay $8 million to buy the campus of bankrupt St. Gregory's University.

The private Catholic university closed in December after being denied a $12.5 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Hobby Lobby is an Oklahoma-City based company that sells arts and crafts items, picture frames, fabrics and holiday merchandise at more than 800 stores throughout the United States.

The popular retailer has not disclosed what it intends to do with the 73-acre campus.

A Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. executive on Sept. 27 signed the purchase agreement for the campus and associated assets. A U.S. bankruptcy judge must approve the agreement before the sale can become final. A hearing is set for Nov. 28 in Oklahoma City.

The agreement became public Tuesday when a bankruptcy trustee requested approval of the sale.

Hobby Lobby was the only one of three potential purchasers to submit an offer after the campus was listed for sale April 17, the trustee reported.

Anyone still interested in the campus can submit a higher cash bid on or before Nov. 28. The bid must be at least $8,490,000.

Proceeds from the sale will be used to pay off claims and mortgages against the campus, the trustee reported.

Owed $4.78 million are the Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corp., the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and the Catholic Order of Foresters, the trustee reported.