Two Civic Center Projects Making Progress

Construction on Downtown's $400 million Federal Courthouse has moved at a leisurely pace since work commenced in August 2013.  Now, with the arrival of a tower crane at 1st Street and Broadway, the long awaited Civic Center mega-project is finally going vertical.  Scheduled to open in 2016, the project comprises 600,000 square feet of floor area, calling for 24 courtrooms and 32 judge's chambers.  Designed by SOM, the 10-story mid-rise is commonly referred to as "the Cube," due to its stout, boxy profile.  The courthouse, first proposed in 2001, navigated a long series of obstacles on the way to its groundbreaking ceremony last year.  Originally envisioned as a 17-story, 41-room facility, the project stalled out in 2006 amidst skyrocketing costs and chronic delays.  After the proposal was revived in 2011, it was met with further opposition from Republican members of California's Congressional delegation, who pushed for the Federal Government to sell the 3.6 acre property to a private developer.  However, the GSA and local Congressional representatives held firm, allowing for the long stalled Courthouse to finally inch toward reality.

Image credit: SOM

Watch the Feds Build Downtown LA's New Courthouse

Back in July, the Los Angeles Times announced that Downtown's long awaited Federal Courthouse had finally broken ground.  The 10-story edifice, designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM), will rise from the corner of 1st and Broadway.  SOM and Clark Construction want to make sure that everyone can see the $400 million project under construction, so they installed a webcam across the street.  There's not much to see yet, but the lot will eventually be home to 24 courtrooms and 32 judge's chambers.  Completion is scheduled for 2016.

Image from SOM

The Federal Courthouse is just one of several projects seeking to reinvent the Civic Center.  On the opposite side of 1st Street, the LA Downtown News reports that the city recently purchased a long vacant parcel from the State of California, with the intention of converting it into park space.  According to the LA Times, the General Services Administration has plans to trade the existing Spring Street Courthouse to a developer who would, in exchange, build an Federal office building next-door to the new courthouse.  Finally, the perpetually stalled Grand Avenue Project is intended to rise on the parking lots to the west of the new courthouse.  However, that project was recently dealt yet another setback, when the Grand Avenue Authority unanimously rejected developer Related California's revised plans.

• New United States Courthouse (Construction Camera)
• New Federal Courthouse for Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles Times)
• Downtown Los Angeles Federal Courthouse Starting to Push Dirt? (Building Los Angeles)

How Do We Replace Parker Center?

Parker Center, viewed from Los Angeles Street

Ever since the LAPD moved into their new headquarters in 2009, questions have lingered about the future of the department's former home.  Now we finally have a chance to get a look at the options on the table.  Yesterday, the LA Downtown News linked to the city's long awaited draft environmental impact report studying the potential uses for Parker Center.

The DEIR focused on three different alternatives for the site:

• Alternative B1 - Rehabilitation: the existing Parker Center building is renovated.  The structure receives a seismic retrofit, with improvements to fire safety and energy efficiency.  The building's layout is reconfigured to provide office space for city employees and commercial space for rent.
• Alternative B2 - Partial Demolition, Rehabilitation, and Addition: most of Parker Center is renovated, but the Parker Center jail is demolished and a new office building is erected in its place.  This expansion creates a 520,000+ square foot facility, with 16,500 square feet devoted to commercial space and child care.  The new structure could rise as high as 200 feet and over 10 stories.
• Alternative B3 - Demolition and Build: all of Parker Center is demolished, and one or two new office buildings take its place.  This option creates over 750,000 square feet of space, served by a 1,173 car parking garage.  The tallest building could rise as high as 450 feet and 27 stories.  The report makes mention of a design option allowing for a second building standing as tall as 216 feet and 15 floors.

To judge these alternatives, the DEIR used the following criteria:

1. Reduce travel time for city employees during the work day by relocating City staff closer to City Hall.
2. Improve customer service by consolidating city services that are dependent upon each other into one building that is in close proximity to other City services.
3. Support City of Los Angeles sustainability initiatives by rehabilitating or constructing a building that meets the City's Green Building Code.
4. Re-activate a City-owned property that is currently underutilized.
5. Ensure the health and safety of City employees by providing a work environment that meets current environmental, seismic, and fire/life safety regulations.

If you think that the above criteria seem to point towards "Demolition and Build," you would be correct.  The DEIR ranks B3 as the preferred alternative, as it allows the city to consolidate the most employees under one roof.  A very tall roof, at that.  At 450 feet from head to toe, this hypothetical tower would be roughly the same height as LA City Hall. 

The DEIR does raise concerns over the demolition of Parker Center, noting that the building has some historical significance.  Parker Center has served as a backdrop for film and television shows, including Dragnet and Perry Mason.  The building was also designed by Welton Becket, one of the most prominent architects in the history of Los Angeles.

Of course, how many buildings in Los Angeles have served as filming locations at this point?  We can't preserve every building that made it onto television.

It is true that Welton Becket designed Parker Center.  However, would anyone consider Parker Center a Becket masterpiece?  Los Angeles is home to many architectural icons, but I would not place Parker Center on that list.  The mid-century design is cold and insular; completely antithetical to the future that the city desires for Downtown.

Unfortunately, I need to throw in a small reality check here.  While it's fun to imagine shiny new office towers, how realistic of a proposal is Alternative B3?  Los Angeles has difficulty maintaining city services and suffers from chronic budget problems.  It is not unrealistic to assume that many Angelenos will have a problem with investing nine figures in city office buildings while streets go unpaved for decades.  Especially since it was just a few years ago that construction of the Police Administration Building went close to 50% over budget.

The Police Administration Building, current LAPD Headquarters.  The building's price tag was originally estimated at just over $300 million dollars, but cost overruns quickly brought that figure closer to $450 million.

So there you have it: tempered enthusiasm and cautious optimism.  Hopefully the city can deliver a quality project to the Parker Center lot.  Preferably without the extreme cost overruns that plagued the construction of its replacement facility.

• City Examines Three Options for Empty Parker Center (LA Downtown News)
• Audit Faults City for Police Headquarters Cost Overruns (LA Daily News)