About 40 miles east of Columbus, Ohio, just off State Route 16 in Newark, is one of the state’s most recognizable landmarks: the Basket Building. David Longaberger built the building in 1997 as headquarters for Longaberger baskets, one of Ohio’s best-known products at the time, and designed it to look like one of the company’s signature baskets – not “inspired by” or “reminiscent of,” but just like one.
And that’s exactly what he got. At its peak, the Longaberger Basket company was valued at $1 billion and employed around 8,000 people. The Longaberger name and the baskets are still known in the area. “They’re a big name. And have been for a long time,” said Steve Coon, the developer and historic restoration expert who bought the building in 2017. “Ohio was fortunate to have the Longabergers. The family put so much into the community.”
Mr. Coon bought the building for $1.2 million while it was still in foreclosure, about a year before the Longaberger company filed for bankruptcy. In 2019, he signed a deal to convert the building into a luxury hotel, but when the pandemic hit, all plans were put on hold.
Several years later the building was still empty but was being maintained by Mr Coon and his team. It was listed for sale in late May for $8.5 million.
The seven-story, 180,000-square-foot office building sits on a 21.5-acre campus. The exterior facade is made of painted stucco cast over wire mesh, creating the illusion of a woven basket. The interior features a 30,000-square-foot atrium with a glass ceiling and patterned floor tiles that loosely resemble a woven texture. The whimsical, arched handles that top the building are heated in winter to prevent the formation of icicles that could break through the glass.
The building has piqued curiosity since it opened on the side of the road. “Every time I’m there, the door opens and someone says they just have to come in and check it out,” said Brandon Hess, the real estate agent managing the sale at Shai Hess Real Estate. “People love it, it’s just a fun building. It puts a smile on everyone’s face.”
Mr. Coon, the current owner, hopes someone will realize his vision of turning the basket into a boutique hotel — or at least attract one of the tech companies that have invested in central Ohio, like Intel or Meta, that could use it as a quirky office building. “With all the tech boom going on here in Ohio, I’m hoping some of the companies that are thinking about leaving California and moving to the Midwest might buy it,” he said. “It would probably cost about $80 million to build something like that today, especially with so much land.”
Mr. Hess of Shai Hess Real Estate sees potential for an owner in the education sector. A school or university could open the building to the public for tours, inviting hundreds of people to pull up to the side of the road to take photos.
Regardless of what happens to the Basket Building, Mr. Coon wants to find a buyer who will value its history, including listing it on the National Register of Historic Places.
“It’s known everywhere as the largest basket in the world and I’m just happy to be a part of its history,” Mr Coon said. “Someone made me an offer, but they wanted to take the handles off and didn’t want it to look like a basket. That was a hard no from me. I said, ‘That’s not going to happen. It has to stay a basket or I won’t sell it.'”