Holman Building gets $5.5 million offer

Nader Agha stands outside the Holman Building in Pacific Grove in 2005. (David Royal, Monterey Herald)

Another day, another million.

The online auction for the historic Holman Building continued Tuesday with a bid of $5.5 million. The auction ends Wednesday.

On Monday, a bid of $4.5 million was registered on Auction.com. Mike Bitar of Executive Commercial, which is running the auction, said he is prevented from disclosing names of bidders.

The property and 5-story building is valued at $6.5 million, according to the Monterey County Assessor's Office. Owner Nader Agha put the building for sale in 2008 for $17.5 million.

Bitar said most bids come on the last day. He said he is getting several calls a day about the property.

The 120,000-square-foot property was home to the former Holman's department store. It was featured in John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" with the story of a man roller skating above the store as a promotion.

Agha has “sole and absolute discretion” to accept the winning bidder’s offer, say legal documents posted on Auction.com.

Holman Building goes up on auction

The historic Holman Building has been put on auction but how serious the attempt is remains to be seen.

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.