LAKE FOREST : Council Anticipates Timely Office Move

A City Hall site selected earlier this week by the City Council-elect could be occupied in time for inauguration ceremonies celebrating the new city’s incorporation Dec. 20, city officials said.

Council members say that renovation work will be fast-tracked at the 6,000-square-foot office at 23774 Mercury Road in the Rockfield Showplace Shopping Center.

“We hope it will be ready by Dec. 1,” said Councilwoman-elect Marcia Rudolph.

The lease being prepared by the city will run for three years. The basic rental rate will run from $41,000 for seven months through June, 1992, to $84,000 annually in the third year of the contract. Maintenance fees and other costs will make the annual rent approximately $150,000, Rudolph said.

“It will serve our needs well,” Rudolph said. “The price was rock-bottom, it’s easy to find and the building will be very flexible for our uses. This is probably the best site we could have found.”

Other tenants in the highly visible commercial center near Lake Forest Drive and El Toro Road include The Hop, a ‘50s-style restaurant, a Black Angus restaurant and Ken Norton’s Gold’s Gym.

Lake Forest residents voted to incorporate last November.