Should Los Angeles County ditch the Civic Center?

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Rebecca Ellis bringing you the latest in county news with help from my City Hall colleague David Zahniser.

Downtown L.A.’s Civic Center has its share of icons.

At one end of Gloria Molina Grand Park sits Los Angeles City Hall, an Art Deco gem featured in more than a dozen municipal-minded films, including “L.A. Confidential” and “Chinatown.”

At the other end is Grand Avenue, home to the Music Center and Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, whose gleaming curves make it a constant tourist draw.

Then there’s the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, the heart of county government and something of an unloved sibling to the masterworks nearby. It’s old, visually unremarkable and, most consequentially, could come crashing down during the next big earthquake.

Faced with a daunting retrofitting project, the county is now considering trading up for something a little snazzier, a move some real estate observers say could reshape downtown.

“It would have a ripple effect in all directions,” said Nick Griffin, executive director of the Downtown Center Business Improvement District. It’s “the 800-pound gorilla in that scenario.”

County officials met for over an hour behind closed doors Tuesday to discuss a deal to purchase the Gas Company Tower, a 52-story downtown skyscraper considered the peak of L.A. office buildings when it was built in 1991.

The county is also looking to acquire space at the World Trade Center Los Angeles, potentially for employee parking. The building is at 350 S. Figueroa St., about a 10-minute walk from the tower, which is at 555 W. 5th St.

John Cooke, who heads the county’s asset management division, and Thomas Faughnan, a senior lawyer for the county, are negotiating with Gregg Williams, a receiver for both properties Tuesday, per the agenda. The county says they’re still negotiating the deal, which will eventually need to get approval from the Board of Supervisors.

For the county’s Chief Executive Office, which is spearheading the negotiation, it’s a chance to grab a prime piece of real estate for $215 million (a bargain basement price when compared with its appraised value of about $600 million pre-pandemic) while avoiding a costly retrofitting process. Kit Miyamoto, a commissioner with the California Seismic Safety Commission, said the cost to seismically upgrade the Hall itself could easily consume tens of millions of dollars.

It’s early still, but some in the downtown real estate world are salivating at the idea of a move by county government deeper into the city’s core.

“The Gas Company Tower is a marquee office building,” said Anh Nguyen, chief strategy officer for the business group Central City Assn. of Los Angeles, in a statement. “This move will help bring increased foot traffic in the heart of Downtown.”

Griffin, with the Downtown Center Business Improvement District, knows how he wants this to play out: move county headquarters to Gas Company Tower, then demolish the Hall of Administration and build parkland in its place — effectively expanding Grand Park.

Griffin paints it as a win-win-win scenario. A notable high-rise is spared from becoming yet another zombie building plaguing the city core. County employees get a splashier, safer workplace. And downtown, potentially, gets an impressive green space that could lure more people to the city core.

“You could really transform that entire area,” he said.

He’s not the first to float the concept. Back when former Supervisor Gloria Molina was masterminding Grand Park, that was her dream, said Miguel Santana, her former chief of staff.

With L.A.’s office market struggling, he said this is the smart time to do it.

“This is a brilliant move for taxpayers,” said Santana, now the head of the California Community Foundation. “It’s practically a fire sale.”

But not everyone is ready to see downtown L.A.’s Civic Center emptied of the county workforce.

Supervisor Janice Hahn came out as “definitely against” the idea right out of the gate, arguing county services shouldn’t be moved away from Los Angeles’ only civic center. The Hall of Administration is named after Hahn’s father, legendary former Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.

The rest of the board has stayed quiet. Asked to comment on the proposal, the other four offices said they were open to the idea or just didn’t know enough about it yet.

That could change when they return from Paris. Hahn, Lindsey Horvath and Hilda Solis flew overseas at the end of the week, joining a host of L.A. politicians for the Summer Olympic Games.

They’ll be back in the Hall next week.

State of play

— SEAT SWAP: Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who is set to become council president Sept. 20, decided to step off all his council committees this week, paving the way for his colleagues to pick up some plum assignments. Councilmember Traci Park took Harris-Dawson’s seat on the powerful budget committee; Councilmember Imelda Padilla filled his slot on the council’s housing and homelessness committee; and Councilmember Curren Price will take a seat on the committee overseeing preparations for the 2028 Olympic Games. Each appointment was made by Council President Paul Krekorian.

— MAYORAL MOMENT: Speaking of Harris-Dawson, he spent a good portion of the week serving as acting mayor while Mayor Karen Bass was in Paris for the Olympic Games. Normally the role of acting mayor would fall to the council president, but Krekorian was in France as well.

— PACOIMA PIT STOP: Gov. Gavin Newsom went to Pacoima Thursday to continue his campaign against homeless encampments, blasting Los Angeles County officials for what he described as a lack of urgency. Newsom praised Bass, saying she is making great strides in addressing the crisis, while ripping the county over its approach. As you may recall, L.A. yielded a 10.4% drop in street homelessness last year, while the county’s decrease was 5.1%, per the region’s latest count.

— METRO MORASS: The fight to make Metro’s buses and trains safer was roiled by infighting between Stephanie Wiggins, the agency’s top executive, and Gina Osborn, the transit system’s onetime head of security. Osborn, who was fired in March, filed a lawsuit this week alleging she was wrongfully terminated for raising concerns about how law enforcement agencies were patrolling the transit system. Meanwhile, a woman was brutally attacked Wednesday at a Pasadena light rail station.

— THE SUPES REASSESS: For years, members of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors were adamant that nothing should replace Men’s Central Jail after it closes. Now they seem to be rethinking their approach, broaching the possibility of building a new facility to replace Men’s Central Jail. That conversation took place after Sheriff Robert Luna reported that three-quarters of county inmates are facing charges too serious for diversion programs — a figure contested by some advocacy groups.

— BUILDING A BUBBLE: Protesters would need to provide eight feet of space to people entering abortion clinics, places of worship and other facilities across swaths of L.A. County under two proposals gaining speed. Both the City Council and the county supervisors are considering requiring “bubble zones” at protests. The legislation is a response to violent altercations and unruly protests outside universities, synagogues and other locations.

— EXPANDING THE CIRCLE: Bass announced this week that the city’s CIRCLE program — teams of unarmed specialists that respond to issues involving homeless people — is being expanded on the Westside. Starting Aug. 25, the CIRCLE teams will operate in such neighborhoods as Palms, Mar Vista, Westchester, Playa Vista and Playa Del Rey.

— HOME-SHARING HANG-UP: LAPD officials say they lack the resources to enforce new home-sharing regulations dealing with Airbnb, Vrbo and other platforms. Those regulations, approved by the City Council last year, require a new police permit for short-term rentals and hotel operators. LAPD officials have asked for enforcement to be delayed a year.

— GANG CRACKDOWN: FBI agents and sheriff’s deputies Tuesday arrested dozens of members of South L.A.’s Florencia 13 gang, which was responsible for the killing of an LAPD officer two years ago. Prosecutors unsealed indictments charging 37 people with an array of crimes, including fentanyl trafficking, extortion and three slayings.

— KUEHL SUMMER: Former Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s criminal case against former County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl turned out to be a nothingburger, with State Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta closing the investigation without any charges. Villanueva said the outcome “smacks of public corruption.” Kuehl called it outright vindication. “There was never anything there, and it was all made up by the sheriff,” she said.

— BOOST FOR BUSINESSES: L.A.’s “legacy” businesses — those that have been in the city for at least two decades — are eligible for city-funded grants of up to $20,000. The funds are aimed at helping businesses affected by the pandemic.

— TICKET TIME: Former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, now on the go as a candidate for governor, sat down for a lengthy interview with The Times’ Gustavo Arellano, only to get a $63 parking ticket at the end of it. Turns out he has no one to blame but himself for the financial sting. While serving as mayor, Villaraigosa increased parking penalties six times in a seven-year span.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s program to combat homelessness did not go to any new locations this week. Instead, the initiative went back to the site of previous encampment operations in South L.A., Harbor City, Hollywood and the west San Fernando Valley. Thirty people went indoors, according to the Bass team.
  
• On the docket for next week: The City Council is set to take up a proposal to prohibit the demolition of rent-controlled apartments in Boyle Heights for the foreseeable future.