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If all goes as planned, Suburban Collection will take over JeromeDuncan Inc. on Feb. 6 and will go about finding a way to turn the bankrupt Ford dealer into a profitable dealership again.
On Wednesday, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Marci McIvor approved the sale of Jerome-Duncan to Troy-based Suburban Collection for about $14.8 million.
Approval from the judge allows creditors to complete the sale, which is expected to close Feb. 6, said David Butler, Suburban Collection's general manager.
Sterling Heights-based Jerome-Duncan, long one of the nation's largest Ford dealerships based on new-vehicle sales, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June after it defaulted on a loan from Ford Motor Credit Co.
The dealership also suffered from a bitter family dispute between cofounder Richard Duncan and his daughter, Gail Duncan, who had majority control over the shares of the dealership. Richard Duncan objected to how Gail Duncan and her husband, Shashi TejPaul, ran the dealership.
Once in bankruptcy, the dealership remained at the top...