Auction for Laguna Niguel’s Ziggurat closes with $177 million final bid – Orange County Register

The five-month auction for Laguna Niguel’s iconic Ziggurat has apparently ended, with the federal office complex going, going, gone for $177 million.

The General Services Administration sales website shows “Bidder #02” won the auction with the final bid, a minimum $300,000 increment at 3.p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 23. Rules for this auction, which started June 5, said if the highest bid is topped in a 24-hour period, the deadline gets extended another 24 hours. No bid was made in that timeframe, ending the sales process on Thursday, Oct. 24.

Curiously, “Bidder #02” was the high bid on only one other day – the auction’s first day. They win the pyramid-shaped Chet Holifield Federal Building and 89 acres, a sprawling campus that’s no longer needed by the federal government. It’s a rare development opportunity in south Orange County.

The final bid still requires GSA approvals and payments before the winner begins the lengthy process of getting city approval for any large redevelopment expected at the site.

Bid bits

Here’s what you need to know about the online auction for a prime south Orange County real estate opportunity …

Last price: Is 153% above the $70 million initial asking price.

Activity: 157 bids on 61 days.

Size: 146 bids at the $300,000 minimum increment. The largest move was a $24.7 million bid on June 5.

Bidders: Three unidentified participants, dubbed “#01” with 79 bids, “#02” with 64 bids, and “#03” with 14.

Extra time: The auction’s “soft” close translated to a $40.2 million price bump since the original July 31 deadline. That’s 29% more.

End of the line

The auction likely means the beginning of the end for the seven-story, beige-colored building designed by famed architect William Pereira.

The building — named in 1978 after the longtime congressman from California — once housed a dozen or federal agencies. Now it’s largely vacant.

Its first auction, which required to keep the landmark, million-square-foot structure intact, drew no bids. You see, the market for office space has been weak since the coronavirus rearranged the nation’s workplace.

If work-from-home didn’t kill off Ziggurat, it’s the fact that half-century-old offices would need huge reinvestment dollars just to be competitive.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]