By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Tribune staff reporter
9:13 AM CDT, August 26, 2009

An auction of the former Chicago Post Office will proceed as scheduled Thursday afternoon.

Trinity Circle Corp., had sought to delay the auction of the structure that spans the Congress Expressway, at 433 W. Van Buren St., by Rick Levin & Associates, charging that the information packet did not disclose all pertinent information and that the auction was wrongfully advertised as absolute.

In the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Trinity, which identified itself as a bidder at the auction, said language within the purchase contract gave the United States Postal Service the authority to reject a bid, meaning that the building would not necessarily be sold to the highest bidder.

The case, which was moved to federal court Tuesday, was withdrawn late in the day when the auction company agreed to remove certain language from the auction contract.

"That's what we always intended, for it to be without reservation," Stephen Novack, Rick Levin's attorney, said Wednesday. "We made that one change, which was consistent with what we always intended anyway."

The Post Office carries a suggested opening bid of $300,000.

mepodmolik@tribune.com