As the federal government considers the sale of a dozen properties across the country, it’s not just the massive Chet Holifield Federal Building in Laguna Niguel that’s being considered in Orange County.
Another local property may be up for grabs for a new developer: a 12.4-acre site in Los Alamitos.
The federally owned property at 4665 Lampson Ave. near the Joint Forces Training Base, currently holds an 88,000-square-foot Department of Education building.
The sole tenant at the two-story building is WestEd, a San Francisco-based nongovernmental educational organization that has a license to occupy the property until December 2022, according to the Department of Education.
A value of the site hasn’t been disclosed; based on land prices in the region, it could be worth $25 million or more if the site is converted to residential uses.
Public to Private
As first reported in the Feb. 24 print edition of the Business Journal, the federal government is hoping to bring in between $500 million to $750 million for several properties across the country, including two in Orange County, according to a government advisory board report.
That report, by the Public Buildings Reform Board, indicated that there are no further plans of government use of the Los Alamitos facility.
The PBRB said it has “prepared to work with the local community and other stakeholders to transition this property from public to private ownership.”
The site also holds a sizeable surface parking lot with about 440 spaces.
In a recent letter to the Office of Management and Budget, the PBRB recommended selling at least five of the 12 buildings in a prompt fashion, with a one-year timeline cited as doable.
These recommendations were made to the General Services Administration. The GSA’s decision on which of the 12 assets it should sell first could take place in the next three months or so.
