The Big Basket is emptying. The Longaberger Co. is moving the remaining staff at its Newark headquarters - also known as the Big Basket building because of its unusual design - to office space at the basketmaker's manufacturing plant in Frazeysburg.

The Big Basket is emptying.

The Longaberger Co. is moving the remaining staff at its Newark headquarters � also known as the Big Basket building � to office space at the basketmaker's manufacturing plant in Frazeysburg.

According to a company email obtained by The Dispatch, the move is being made in the coming weeks to bring employees together in a centralized location.

"Since I started ... I have listened and debated the topic of moving everyone under one roof," said John Rochon Jr., Longaberger CEO, in a message to employees. "I always agreed it was the smart thing to do but I always hesitated because I wanted to gauge the importance of the Big Basket to the sales force."

After spending the past year shuttling between the headquarters building and the manufacturing complex, "I now know why everyone has desired to move," Rochon said. "The energy and (company founder Dave Longaberger's) spirit is on the floor with the basketmakers. Honestly, mine is too."

The final element that persuaded Rochon was when the company recently bought a new telephone system.

"At that point, a group of leaders within the company said that if I would ever consider allowing everyone to move, now would be a logical time," Rochon said. "So, I held a private company meeting and with tears of joy and smiles, I broke down and agreed to it."

The company has not said what will happen to the building once it becomes empty. A deal to donate the building to the city of Newark "is not done," Rochon said. "It may never get done."

The company is behind on its taxes, and if delinquent taxes aren't paid, the county has the power to foreclose on the property and offer it at a sheriff's sale, Licking County Auditor Mike Smith said.

"At this point, the minimum bid would be $570,000 plus court costs," Smith said. "So you could own the Big Basket for less than $600,000."

If no one wants it at the sheriff's sale price, the property would go to Licking County's recently established land bank.

The iconic seven-story, 180,000-square-foot headquarters building opened in 1997, when the Newark basketmaker was approaching its glory days. Sales peaked at $1 billion in 2000, and in the same year, the company had its largest workforce, more than 8,000.

But by 2006, a struggling Longaberger Co. was looking for ways to cut costs. Newark agreed to rework a tax agreement that left Longaberger Co. paying less than what Newark owed to pay off the debt from roadwork, lighting and other infrastructure improvements made for the headquarters building.

But even with the agreement with Newark, Longaberger has been behind in paying back taxes on the building. The Licking County auditor said on Friday that Longaberger currently owes approximately $570,000 in back taxes.

The Longaberger Co. stopped those payments while the company challenged the property-tax valuation of the Big Basket.

"The local tax basis is almost a $9 million valuation while the offers for the building have been in the hundreds of thousands," Rochon said.

tferan@dispatch.com