For $8.5M, you can buy the world's largest picnic basket, which holds 180,000 square feet of office space and a gym — under one condition

The 180,000-square-foot property, which sits on a 21.5-acre campus about 40 miles east of Columbus, has been one of Ohio’s most recognizable roadside attractions since it opened in 1997. But while the building is for sale, the current owner has made one thing clear: Whoever buys it can’t erase what makes it famous.

“I said, ‘That’s not going to happen; it’s got to stay a basket, or I won’t sell it,’” developer and historic restoration specialist Steve Coon, who currently owns the building, told The New York Times of an offer from a prospective buyer who wanted to remove the building’s signature basket handles.

An office building unlike any other

The basket-shaped headquarters was the brainchild of Longaberger founder Dave Longaberger, who insisted that his company’s new headquarters should be an exact replica of its bestselling Medium Market Basket.

According to the Smithsonian Magazine, architects initially tried to convince Longaberger to go with a more conventional design, but Longaberger apparently stated that, if people could put a man on the moon, they could certainly construct a building shaped like a basket.

Completed in 1997 at a reported cost of about $32 million, the building is seven stories high and features giant handles arching above a massive glass atrium.

The exterior may be unique but the interior is built with work in mind. It’s a Class A office building with roughly 180,000 square feet of office space, a 30,000-square-foot glass-roofed atrium, glass elevators, a media room, an on-site fitness center and locally sourced woodwork throughout. Designed for more than 500 employees, it also comes with 25 heated underground executive parking spaces and 555 parking spots.

The World’s Biggest Basket stands out by being highly visible along State Route 16 in Newark, near both Ohio State University at Newark and Denison University, with convenient access to Columbus and central Ohio’s growing technology corridor.

From basket empire to second chance

The building’s story has been as unusual as its appearance. At its peak, Longaberger was one of America’s largest handmade basket companies, employing roughly 8,000 people and reportedly reaching a valuation of about $1 billion. But after Dave Longaberger’s death, the business struggled and the company eventually vacated the building before filing for bankruptcy, which left the basket empty.

Back in 2016, when unpaid property taxes threatened the property, Smithsonian Magazine reported that the famous building could have been sold at a sheriff’s auction for less than $600,000.

Instead, Coon purchased the property in 2017 for $1.2 million while it was in pre-foreclosure. He later announced he wanted to turn the landmark into a luxury hotel, but those plans stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After years of maintaining the vacant property, Coon has listed it for sale through Shai Hess Commercial Real Estate for $8.5 million.

The Basket Building continues to attract visitors who stop simply to see what’s inside.