Chrysler Group LLC has reached an agreement with the Chrysler bankruptcy asset estate to purchase the assembly plant Sterling Heights, Michigan for an estimated $20 million. Confirmation of the sale is expected on March 11, (if and) when U.S. bankruptcy judge Arthur Gonzalez approves the deal.

The deal would mean that the production of the mid-size sedans, the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger, at the plant would continue till the end of 2012. The plant currently employs as many as 1200 workers, who would face the prospect of losing their job by the end of this year if the deal doesn’t go through. The deal would also mean that Chrysler would receive tax abatements worth $8.2 million annually from the city of Sterling Heights.

The plant was placed with Old CarCo LLC, a Shell company, last year during Chrysler’s tax-payer funded bankruptcy restructuring. Old CarCo started negotiating a deal with Chrysler after the company’s five year business plan was unveiled last November. While Chrysler plans to introduce new mid-size sedans based on the Fiat platform in 2013, it is expected that the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger will remain in production till then. Chrysler CEO, Sergio Marchionne, who also runs Fiat SpA, confirmed last week that “reviving the automaker’s midsize sedans” played an integral part in the planned turnaround of Chrysler.

The University of Delaware had previously purchased an empty Chrysler assembly plant in Newark, Del. from Old CarCo for $24.2 million. This was followed by an offer from Twinsburg Industrial Park LLC of $27.5 million to take over Chrysler’s Twinsburg, Ohio, stamping plant.