Civic Center Mall Plans Call for 20-Story Building

A privately developed commercial office building, rising 20 stories above 1st Street, Broadway and Spring Street, will go up in the downtown Los Angeles Civic Center under a long-term agreement approved recently by the city, county and state.

As part of the $130-million public-private project, the Civic Center Mall--the landscaped oasis now stretching from Grand Avenue to Broadway--will be extended one additional block to Spring Street, opposite City Hall. Underground parking also will be provided for 1,600 cars and a child-care facility for 100 youngsters will be built into the office structure’s lower floors.

Under the program, the three public entities, each owning a portion of the site, would share revenues from a 66-year lease to a private developer. The county and state own more than 90% of the 4.6-acre site, and the city owns the remainder.

James C. Hankla, the county’s chief administrative officer, described the venture as “one of the most significant . . . nationally in a downtown civic center area.” He said the site, embracing almost a full block, is a “rarity in a major metropolitan area (because) it is both vacant and strategically located.”

Located on the north side of 1st Street across from Times Mirror Square, the state property formerly housed the earthquake-damaged Los Angeles State Building, which was demolished after the 1971 temblor. The county has been using its half for parking.

The entry of a commercial developer into this section of the Civic Center, planners have pointed out, will break up an eight-block concentration of public buildings reaching from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power headquarters to Parker Center.

“We see a ‘signature’ building--a structure that would complement the City Hall and create a focal point for that corner,” said William Lewis, the county CAO’s lease administrator.

Under the lease-development plan, the county, as the lead agency, will call for proposals in September, and a developer will be selected in May, 1987. Construction is expected to begin in late 1988.