Lakeville prime commercial property being sold at Ritchie Bros. unreserved public auction.

Jackson Landscape Supply's 25+/- -acre property along with hundreds of heavy equipment items and real estate from other owners will be sold to highest bidders

LAKEVILLE, MN, June 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A well-known area in the city, the property where Lakeville-based Jackson Landscape Supply Inc. held its operations for more than 35 years, will be sold at the upcoming Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Minneapolis, Minnesota unreserved public auction on June 18, 2009. The 25+/- -acre property is located at 10906 162nd Street West in Lakeville, near Lee Lake, and it will be sold to the highest bidder on auction day with no minimum bid or reserve price. The Lakeville commercial property forms part of a larger unreserved industrial auction in which Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE and TSX: RBA) will sell hundreds of heavy equipment items as well as a selection of real estate items.

"The Jackson Landscape property is a prime piece of commercial land with great visibility from I-35," said Andy Artley, Ritchie Bros. Regional Manager. "Those interested in the property should register to bid at our auction because on auction day it's the competitive bidding process that determines the final price of the property. It will sell to the highest bidder, regardless of price. There is no charge to register to bid."

William Jackson, owner of Jackson Landscape Supply Inc., grew up on the property - where his father used to operate a dairy farm. In 1975, Mr. Jackson purchased the land from his father and began a landscape supply business. For more than 35 years, Jackson Landscape Supply Inc. has been accommodating contractors and retailers from their location at the intersection of I-35W (coming from Minneapolis) and I-35E (coming from St. Paul). Jackson Landscape Supply provides a variety of services to customers in the metro-Minneapolis area, including residential and commercial delivery truck rentals as well as residential/commercial hydro seeding and screening - all run from the company's Lakeville property.

According to Mr. Jackson, the sale of the Jackson Landscape Supply property comes at an opportune time as he has made other plans for his business. "We've had a good run from a great location in Lakeville and we will continue to operate from a farm in southern Minnesota."

As a long-time Ritchie Bros. customer, he is confident that the property will sell at its true market value. "While we've had a 'for sale' sign up for some time, we have not added the property to real estate listings. When we decided that it was time to make things happen, we thought of a Ritchie Bros. auction because we know it will be sold," added Mr. Jackson. "The auction of my property will give the new buyer a fantastic opportunity to own commercial ground at a great location, with beautiful amenities."

The 25+/- -acre property is located about a 15-minute drive from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Two major freeways and approximately 10 acres of water from Lee Lake surround the property on 162nd Street West.

The one-day unreserved auction being held at the Ritchie Bros. new auction site in Medford, MN also features a selection of hydraulic and rough terrain cranes, hydraulic excavators, agricultural tractors, combines, motor scrapers, compaction machinery, truck tractors and trailers from more than 110 sellers. In addition to the Jackson Landscape property, other real estate items featured in the June 18 Minneapolis auction include commercial/industrial land in Burnsville and residential acreages near Big Lake and Brainerd. Like all Ritchie Bros. auctions, every item will be sold on an unreserved basis - meaning there will be no minimum bids or reserve prices and everything will sell to the highest bidder on sale day, regardless of price.

HOW TO BID

There are three ways to bid on the Jackson Landscape property as well as the other real estate properties and equipment items at the upcoming Minneapolis auction on June 18:

  1.  Attend the Minneapolis auction in person at 6000 Frontage Road W.,      Medford, MN, starting at 8:00 a.m. (Central Time)  2.  Bid online - in real time over the internet - register online at      least one week in advance at http://www.rbauction.com/onlinebidding  3.  Place a proxy bid. Ritchie Bros. will bid during the auction on your      behalf, up to and including the maximum bid you have given

For more information about the Lakeville commercial property, including photos, additional documents, information about the area and information about how to register and participate at the unreserved auction, visit http://www.rbauction.com/property/2009183_minneapolis_mn/index.jsp or contact Steve Speer at +1.612.518.0095 or sspeer@rbauction.com

About Ritchie Bros.

Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is the world's largest industrial auctioneer, selling more equipment to on-site and online bidders than any other company in the world. The Company has over 110 locations in more than 25 countries, including 38 auction sites worldwide. Ritchie Bros. sells, through unreserved public auctions, a broad range of used and unused industrial assets, including equipment, trucks and other assets utilized in the construction, transportation, agricultural, material handling, mining, forestry, petroleum and marine industries. The Company maintains a web site at www.rbauction.com and sponsors an equipment wiki at www.RitchieWiki.com.

CONTACT: Kim Schulz, Corporate Communications Manager, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Cell: (604) 788-5379 or email kschulz@rbauction.com; Or Andy Artley, Regional Manager, Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, Minneapolis Auction Site, Tel: (507) 774-5050