Efforts to sell Eastland Mall via online auction yesterday failed to attract a bid that was acceptable to the mortgage servicer - and the process of trying to sell the property will continue.

Efforts to sell Eastland Mall via online auction yesterday failed to attract a bid that was acceptable to the mortgage servicer � and the process of trying to sell the property will continue.

Columbus-based Glimcher Realty Trust, which owns the mall, said yesterday that an $18 million bid posted on Auction.com has not been accepted.

�Auction.com has informed us that the final bid was not accepted by the servicer, and accordingly there was no transaction,� said Glimcher spokeswoman Karen Bailey.

Glimcher officials previously said there is a $40 million mortgage on the mall held by LNR Partners, which Bailey described as �the servicer who represents the security holders of the (commercial mortgage-backed security) loan.�

If Eastland is not sold by late July, the mortgage holder will take title to the property and release Glimcher from the $40 million mortgage, according to a federal filing by Glimcher.

If the sale price is less than $40 million, Glimcher will not have to pay the mortgage holder the difference, Glimcher officials have said.

�We are currently working with the servicer on the next steps,� Bailey said of the ongoing process to sell the mall.

Eastland, which covers nearly a million square feet, was built in 1968 and purchased by Glimcher for $29.7 million in 2003.

The mall is 76 percent occupied, Glimcher officials said, and anchors are Macy�s, Sears and JCPenney.

swartenberg@dispatch.com

@stevewartenberg