Cesar Pelli and the Hawthorne Federal Building
An auction for the Federal Aviation Administration’s longtime West Coast headquarters near Los Angeles International Airport is nearing an end following dozens of bids for the property.
As of 5 p.m., bidding for 1500 Aviation Boulevard has reached $37 million from the $8 million starting bid when the historic office building hit the block a month ago. The auction is set to end around 7:30 p.m. Bid increments are set at $300,000.
The six-story Hawthorne Federal Building in Lawndale, not neighboring Hawthorne, has 206,000 square feet of rentable space and sits on about 11.5 acres near Interstate 405.
The area is a longtime hub for aviation and related technology companies. Northrop Grumman has a massive office complex across the street. SpaceX’s headquarters is a five-mile drive away.
The Federal Building is a local architecture treasure among the area’s otherwise unremarkable stock of office buildings. It was designed by celebrated post-modern architect Cesar Pelli in the mid-1960s and was the first building in Southern California to have a mirrored glass skin when it opened in 1973, according to the L.A. Conservancy. The style became extremely popular in the following decades.
The Federal Building was listed on the National Register for Historic Places in 2015. The designation does not bar demolition or changes to the property but does make the property eligible for tax incentives related to preservation.