NORMAL - Two shuttered Wendy's restaurants in Normal will not reopen unless another company purchases the franchise licenses, a town attorney said.

The restaurants closed in September in the wake of financial troubles for franchise operator WenAmerica of St. Louis.

With WenAmerica's assets frozen in a Missouri bankruptcy court, the two restaurants at 1600 E. College Ave. and 1315 S. Main St. in Normal could sit vacant for months, said Normal attorney Wayne Karplus, who is trying to collect unpaid taxes from the company.

A representative of Wendy's International did not return calls from the Pantagraph to discuss the fate of the restaurants or any possibilities of a new franchise owner.

Charles Riske, the bankruptcy trustee in the case, recently told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that reorganization attempts to reopen WenAmeria's restaurants were unsuccessful.

The first priority, he said, would be to handle claims by employees for unpaid wages and vacation pay. The closures, including about 50 restaurants in Missouri and downstate Illinois, left nearly 1,000 people without jobs.

Riske did not return calls to the Pantagraph.

Meanwhile, WenAmerica owes the town of Normal and other Central Illinois communities thousands in unpaid taxes.

"Those restaurants are not going to reopen. In my opinion, nobody's going to see a penny," Karplus said.

Normal sued WenAmerica to collect around $70,000 in unpaid taxes, but those legal hearings are stalled by the bankruptcy proceedings in Missouri. To collect through the bankruptcy proceedings, Normal would need to hire a licensed Missouri attorney, and Karplus hadn't decided if it was worth it.

The town has talked to officials in Decatur, Urbana and Peoria, which also are owed taxes from WenAmerica, to possibly join forces to collect through bankruptcy court.