Peninsula businessman Nader Agha bought the 120,000-square-foot Pacific Grove building on Lighthouse Avenue in 1995 and has put it up for sale before.
In 2008, he was asking $17.5 million for the landmark hotel. He said, at the time, he put it on the market because he was frustrated by years of delays to build a luxury hotel.
His latest attempt, posted last week on Auction.com, said indicative bids are due by 5 p.m. on Halloween. From there, prospective buyers will be selected by him for a final auction and required to post a minimum deposit of $100,000.
The final auction for the 90-year-old building will be held Nov. 19.
Foreign buyers are permitted to participate but any purchase must be in cash unless otherwise approved by Agha.
The rules for the auction may raise some red flags for potential buyers. In the fine print of the agreement, it says Agha has “sole and absolute discretion” to accept the winning bidder’s offer.
Most people I called about this auction seemed jaded after years of rumors about new buyers for the Holman Building, as well as the frequency it seems to go up for sale.
So far, efforts to reach Agha have been unsuccessful.
Given the importance of the building to downtown Pacific Grove (which even resulted in a 2012 election) it isn't a situation that is likely to go away anytime soon.
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