Seismic Hazards May Force Cal State Out of Long Beach Offices

Cal State University officials say that they may have to abandon the system’s oceanfront headquarters in Long Beach, in part because a consultant has warned that the administrative building is a significant seismic hazard requiring nearly $700,000 in immediate repairs.

The consultant, Jim Hill & Associates of Signal Hill, also said it would cost at least $5 million to stabilize the land underneath the university’s conference center and the southern portion of the headquarters, where an earthquake could trigger liquefaction of soils as deep as 50 feet.

CSU Executive Vice Chancellor Molly Broad said university officials have already been informally looking for other office space in downtown Long Beach and expect to sign a contract soon with a broker to conduct a formal search and study whether moving the headquarters would be economically viable.

Broad and Lori Erdman, her executive assistant, said earthquake concerns are only part of the problems with the headquarters on Golden Shore.

They said a related study showed that walls and corridors of the 97,000-square-foot structure would have to be torn out and the mechanical and electrical systems would have to be updated to consolidate work space and make way for the installation of more computers.

In addition, CSU may have to build a 60,000-square-foot addition on the site if officials implement a plan to move the system’s construction section and computer center closer to top administrators. Currently, those sections are housed in space rented in a federal building in Los Alamitos.

About 225 employees work at the headquarters, built for $5.5 million in 1975 to lure the university administration out of its Downtown Los Angeles offices. It is owned by a building authority formed under a joint powers agreement between the city of Long Beach and CSU.

The questions about the building’s seismic safety were raised in a report given to CSU officials shortly before the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake. The report concluded that the Long Beach building “in its current configuration represents a significant seismic hazard. Immediate steps should be taken to either retrofit the building or to terminate occupancy.”

Broad said headquarters employees were notified about those conclusions the day after the Northridge temblor. The university has since ordered a detailed cost estimate of the repairs, which could be paid for out of budget reserves and would include adding shear walls and more anchors between walls and floors.

“If we take care of those structural issues, we will be able to get people out of the building. But the building would be damaged,” Erdman said. “If we don’t do that, we won’t be able to take care of our employees.”

Both officials said CSU would probably make a decision on whether to move in August, when it meets with the building authority.