SOUTHLAND : U.S. Puts Lincoln S&L; on Block

Lincoln Savings & Loan Assn., the Irvine-based thrift that became a symbol of the nation’s savings-and-loan debacle, was officially put up for sale today by federal officials.

Also listed is Imperial Federal Savings Assn. in San Diego, one of California’s largest thrifts with $7.9 billion in assets.

The Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency mopping up the thrift mess, listed Lincoln and Imperial among 18 savings and loans on which it is soliciting bids. Both thrifts have continued operating after being seized by regulators.

The failure in April, 1989, of Lincoln, formerly owned by a corporation controlled by Phoenix executive Charles H. Keating Jr., could cost taxpayers $2 billion. That would make it one of the nation’s costliest S&L; collapses.