The interplay among three bidders has driven the government auction for Laguna Niguel’s “Ziggurat” up by 129% to $160.2 million.

Now there are no names attached to the online bidding activity, until the winner is revealed. But the auction website of the General Services Administration does keep track of individual bids for the pyramid-shaped Chet Holifield Federal Building, which sits on an 89-acre campus.

So, for example, on Monday, Sept. 16, the entity dubbed “Bidder #02” again kept the auction alive for 24 hours with another last-minute million bid – topping Friday’s price by the minimum $300,000 increment. Bidder #01 then instantly countered, increasing the price by another $300,000.

This kind of gamesmanship among three bidders has been ongoing for more than three months now, driving the auction $90.2 million above the government’s initial asking price. To paint a picture of this trio’s auction habits, my trusty spreadsheet’s looked at the 100 bids listed on the GSA site for the 53-year-old building and campus.

Bidder #01

This auction’s leader, literally.

This bidder opened the bidding at the government’s $70 million minimum on the auction’s first day, June 5. They’ve held high bid at the end of 34 of the 35 days there’s been auction activity.

And while 46 bids of their 50 bids made were made at the minimum $300,000 above the previous price, this bidder can make a splash.

On the auction’s first day, one bid upped the price by $5.3 million. And this bidder is clearly using the auction site’s technology to stay ahead, instantly responding to new bids to keep atop the pack.

That happened again on Monday, with that $160.2 million bid just seconds after another bid raised the price by $300,000 above Friday’s last bid.

Bidder #02

This is this auction’s most playful participant.

On June 5, they made four bold moves – upping the price by $8.4 million, $17.7 million, $3 million, and $24.7 million, the largest price jump in the auction. They ended that day as top bidder at $125.3 million, the only day anyone other than Bidder #01 was high bid.

Ever since, Bidder #02’s bids have been at the $300,000 minimum increases, but the timing has been dramatic.

On the last 14 auction days, Bidder #02 has beaten the deadline with less than one hour to go, upping the price by the smallest increment allowed. On Monday, their bid came 30 minutes before the auction would have ended. Relatively speaking, that’s prompt as on Sept.12, their bid arrived with only 8 minutes left.

So we have a new auction deadline: Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 10:40 a.m.

Bidder #03

Are they still interested?

Their first bid was July 30, a day before the first deadline, at $130.9 million. Their last bid was $148.5 million on August 22.

Their activity was muted, with 13 of 14 bids at the minimum $300,000 increment above the previous offer.

The prize

The auctioneering is a battle for land with an eye-catching structure designed by the late famed architect William Pereira. The US government no longer needs it.

Bidding was originally due to end July 31, but the auction rules say if the current high bid is topped on a deadline day, the auction remains open for another 24 hours. That extension requirement was met July 31, and all 32 business days since then – 22 of those extensions coming by bids within one hour of the deadline.

Ziggurat is a rare opportunity for large-scale real estate development in south Orange County. And this is its second auction.

The first, which required the buyer to preserve the structure, drew no bids. This auction – without that restriction on development – will likely mean demolition of the seven-story, 1-million-square-foot office facility.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

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