Battle for Ziggurat in Laguna Niguel ends on $177M bid

The gavel has finally fallen on the Chet Holifield Federal Office Building in Laguna Niguel, the distinctive complex better known as the Ziggurat for its pyramid-like tiers.

An investor identified only as “Bidder #2” paid a hammer price of $177 million for the seven-story building at 24000 Avila Road, the Orange County Register reported.

The auction of the 1 million–square-foot building by the U.S. General Services Administration came to $177 per square foot, although the 91 acres of land that’s part of the deal likely accounts for much of the value.

The winning bid was $106.7 million more than the price set on the auction’s opening day. Uncle Sam opened bidding at $70 million on June 5. Bidding was supposed to close on July 31, if bidding slowed.

The building was sold as part of a soft auction, meaning bidding reset every day as new bids were placed. The winning bid had to go unmatched for 24 hours to bring the auction to a close, with minimum increments of $300,000 required.

Two undisclosed bidders went back-and-forth, keeping the auction alive for more than four months.

The government put the property up for sale to avoid spending $300 million on long-term repairs and upgrades.

The competition for the Ziggurat was viewed as a rare opportunity for large-scale redevelopment in South OC.

It was the second auction for the nearly vacant campus. The first auction was held in 2022, with conditions that would have required a buyer to preserve the distinctive beige structure. The initial auction drew no takers.

The intense investor competition at the latest auction — without the preservation restriction — suggests the buyer will likely bulldoze the 53-year-old building and seek new zoning for the site.

A study by the Urban Land Institute last year recommended the City of Laguna Niguel allow a developer to build between 2,000 and 4,000 homes, with a density of 60 to 80 units per acre.

The Brutalistic building, designed by William Pereira and completed in 1971 for North American Aviation, has historic importance in its resemblance to “the ancient ziggurats,” according to the GSA. Uncle Sam bought the building three years later.

For decades, the building housed thousands of federal employees from up to 12 agencies, including 2,000 from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

— Dana Bartholomew