The Longaberger Company, a celebrated manufacturer of handcrafted maple wood baskets based near Newark, Ohio, has struggled in recent years with collapsing sales. It’s trademark office building, in the shape of a Medium Market Basket, was put up for sale. The seven-story, 180,000 square-foot building was constructed by NBBJ and Korda Nemeth Engineering and opened in 1997.
At its peak in 2000, Longaberger had sales of over one billion dollars annually, declining to just $100 million in sales by 2016. Longaberger stopped paying property taxes on its headquarters in 2014 owing to the precarious finances and vacated the premises in July 2016. While the iconic building was once offered for sale for a mere $5 million, it was placed into foreclosure after finding no buyers.
