Ruby Liu

, the British Columbia-based billionaire who wants to buy 25 leases from

Hudson’s Bay Co.

, was in court Tuesday to face concerns that her plans for the properties are not sustainable, but the hearing was adjourned because she showed up without a lawyer to make her case.

Judge Peter Osborne said he is concerned about the additional costs — $4.7 million per month — that HBC and its lenders will have to incur as a result of the delay in completing the sale, but the significance of the decision requires that she elaborate on her plans so that all parties are aware of them.

“I not only urge you, but recommend in the strongest possible terms that these parties retain counsel immediately and they be made aware of the urgency of this situation,” he said.

A lawyer representing Restore Capital LLC, the HBC lender that brought forth the motion to terminate the deal between the defunct retailer and Liu, said the delay was not good.

“The purchaser is a sophisticated party … and I wouldn’t think it would be possible to simply delay and increase costs by terminating a law firm,” Linc Rogers said. “That would be a wrong incentive to provide for participants in this proceeding.”

Liu said she is ready to “hire people, create jobs” and “open stores,” and that

she would hire legal counsel as soon as possible.

“We will work closely with HBC, and we have already hired experts,” she said. “We submitted business plans on May 1, and then continually updated the business plans. We have done tremendous work.”

Ashley Taylor, a lawyer representing HBC, said there has been ongoing dialogue and work with Liu to try to answer some of the landlords’ questions and inquiries.

But lawyers representing the landlords didn’t share Taylor’s optimism. One of them said that there has been “zero discussion” with the landlord he represents, though Liu may have had internal discussions with HBC and other lenders.

Alex Hennick, who heads A.D. Hennick & Associates Inc., a Toronto-based company that provides liquidation solutions and is not part of the HBC hearing, said it was evident that the landlords don’t want to lease to someone they don’t have the confidence is going to be there long term.

“They don’t believe that the model is going to work in the existing locations because it didn’t exist for a historic retailer who was there for so many years,” he said. “It’s a very unique situation. It’s not common. The reason it is being blocked is because no one really believes it could be a successful venture.”

Canada’s oldest department store filed for

bankruptcy protection

under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act on March 7. It has been selling its leases, intellectual property rights and artifacts since then and cut its workforce to pay back its creditors ever since.

  • Hudson’s Bay fights back against lender that wants to terminate lease sales to Ruby Liu
  • Why the demise of Canadian retail’s ‘middle class’ won’t end with Hudson’s Bay

The retailer inked an agreement to sell up to 28 leases in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia to Liu’s Tsawwassen, B.C.-based company, Central Walk, on May 23. An Ontario court approved the sale of three of those leases, but the remaining 25 have yet to be approved.

• Email: nkarim@postmedia.com