Iconic Ziggurat Building For Sale, Bidding Starts In Laguna Niguel

LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA — The iconic seven-story Ziggurat building in Laguna Niguel will go up for auction next March, after federal officials announced the building and property's starting bid at $70 million.

The sprawling 89-acre property has been a fixture on Alicia Parkway for more than fifty years. The pyramid-esque designed structure was designed by William Pereira, known for his design of the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco and the Los Angeles International Airport.

The building is known informally by residents as the Ziggurat, though its official name is the Chet Holifield Federal Building. The property is also referred to as Laguna Ridge, officials said.

Initially, it housed thousands of federal employees from up to 12 agencies, including about 2,000 from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Orange County Register Reported.

For the past several years, the building has only been half-full, the newspaper reported.

The online auction was announced by the U.S. General Services Administration. The auction is expected to start at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 7.

“The sale of Laguna Ridge is one example of GSA’s commitment to right-sizing the federal real estate portfolio,” Dan Brown, Acting Regional Administrator for GSA’s Pacific Rim Region, said in a release. “The sale of this large parcel of land in Laguna Niguel creates an economic development opportunity in Orange County while generating proceeds for the U.S. taxpayer.”

The Chet Holifield Federal Building is located about four miles from the Pacific coastline. The property is surrounded by a mix of retail, small office and residential land uses.

For more information on the auction, visit GSA's website.