No One Wants to Buy This $5 Million Basket-Shaped Building

When the basket-focused decor organization The Longaberger Company demanded that its Ohio headquarters look like a massive woven picnic basket, it probably wasn’t planning on moving. But as the company has consolidated its operations and moved workers to a factory elsewhere, it’s probably regretting letting its late founder Dave Longaberger have so much sway in the office design process. The unique building, located 40 miles outside Columbus, has proved extremely hard to sell, even at a discount, Bloomberg reports (as spotted by Gizmodo).

Built in 1997, the building initially went on the market last year for $7.5 million, but it turns out, not that many companies want a 180,000-square-foot, seven-story building that looks like it’s ready for a lakeside picnic. But that was exactly what Longaberger, then serving as CEO, wanted it to look like.

When Longaberger was in talks with the designers he hired from NBBJ—an architecture firm that has proven itself plenty willing and able to design innovative office buildings elsewhere—he picked up one of the company’s baskets, according to a news report from the time, and demanded: “This is what I want. Build it.” The architects obliged.

The offices are now listed at $5 million, about half the square-foot-price of office buildings in the area, according to Bloomberg. It can’t be stripped of its quirky style, since it’s narrower at the bottom than the top, just like your favorite woven carrying case. Hopefully someone with $5 million to spare is looking to create a basket museum in remote Newark, Ohio—even if it isn’t the best picnic spot in the state.

Know of something you think we should cover? Email us at tips@mentalfloss.com.