COSTA MESA

Real estate appraisers said they quoted a fair value for a building the city has eyed for months as a possible new City Hall. But Nickolas Shammas, owner of the Spanish-style building on Newport Boulevard, said the appraisers did not have enough information to accurately determine its value. Shammas, a Los Angeles businessman, said it would be impossible to make an accurate appraisal without a tenant there. The building has been vacant since 1991 when its last tenant, a savings bank, folded. Neither city officials nor Shammas would release the actual property value.

Donald Lamm, the city’s project manager, said the city promised to keep the figure confidential when it agreed to share the $20,000 cost of appraising the building with Shammas. Shammas said the appraisers told him they would have valued the building at $30 million if a tenant were there. Lamm said the value the appraisers determined was considerably lower than $30 million. In September, the City Council, along with Shammas, commissioned the appraisers to determine the value of the mission-style building at the corner of Newport Boulevard and 19th Street. The building is in a burgeoning downtown area across the street from Triangle Square.