COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE : Auction of Seized Property Will Include 2 O.C. Buildings

What to buy the person who has everything for Christmas this year? How about a reasonably priced office building with a view of Newport Harbor?

On Dec. 12, bidders will get to choose from 182 government-owned properties valued at roughly half a billion dollars. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. auction of properties formerly owned by banks that were seized by the federal government will be held in Dallas and broadcast via satellite to locations around the country, including the Marriott Hotel in Century City.

The properties include two Orange County office buildings: a two-story, 15,800-square-foot structure in Newport Beach with an estimated sale price range of $945,000 to $1.5 million, and a three-story, 46,000-square-foot building in Santa Ana with a sale price range of $1.3 million to $2 million.

Orange County’s showing at the auction will be rather minor. Several of the sites, including hotels, office structures, industrial buildings and apartment complexes, are priced around $15 million.

“(The Orange County buildings) are two of our lower-priced properties,” said Kenny Fischer, a manager with Ross-Dove Co. Inc., headquartered in Foster City, Calif. In 1989, the auction firm and the San Francisco-based brokerage Grubb & Ellis formed a real estate auction company to sell properties seized from failed savings and loans.

Auctions like the upcoming one light a fire under prospective buyers, Fischer said. “If you had $1 million sitting in your pocket and you were thinking about buying that office building in Newport Beach, what would be your hurry in today’s slow market?” he said. “But if you see that the building is selling on such-and-such date, you’re forced to take action. Auctions create a sense of urgency.”