ORANGE : Bids Open for Ex-School Headquarters

Investors have until Jan. 11 to try to outbid Chapman University for Orange Unified School District’s historic former headquarters on Glassell Street.

Orange Unified officials have begun the bidding process and are offering a tour of the site at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday for prospective buyers. Only those with a minimum of $2.4 million need apply, the brochure states.

Chapman officials want the building, just across the street from the university, for their new law school. The school is scheduled to open in temporary quarters next fall in either Orange, Costa Mesa, Santa Ana or Fullerton, according to Richard Cheshire, Chapman’s vice president for university relations.

But Chapman officials want the permanent site to be across Glassell in the circa-1920s Orange Unified building. Cheshire walked through the building last week and said it “needs work” but is still ideal for the law school.

The building, with its elaborate Spanish facade, was placed on the federal registry of historic places in 1993.

“We would love to have the opportunity to preserve that facade,” Cheshire said. “It is beautiful, and it deserves a long and healthy future.”

The school district abandoned the four-acre site two years ago but still uses two buildings for warehousing and a media center, Chief Fiscal Officer Joyce Capelle said.

About 25 real estate companies and other investors have inquired about the site, but only Chapman officials have shown up for the walk-throughs, she said.

Bids will be unsealed Jan. 12.