a ‘hole’ lot of nothing: civic center project’s price tag rises
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Fans of the Civic Center’s block-long hole in the ground may cheer the recent announcement that the new federal courthouse’s costs have risen by over $800 million to a total price tag of $1.1 billion.
Everyone else can be virtually assured the site will remain a large pit for years to come.
Demolition on the former State Building at 1st and Broadway wrapped up in November of last year, where officials once hoped to build a soaring structure housing new courtrooms and office space. Modern facilities would have been much welcomed by the overburdened federal court system in Los Angeles.
Now it’s back to the drawing board for the General Services Administration, the government agency in charge of the project, reports the Downtown News in their latest development update.
In the face of these challenges, is it too much to ask that the city use some of those missing Quimby fees to turn the lot into a park, at least temporarily? Knowing the ability of the federal government to drag its feet on such projects, “temporarily” might be quite a while, indeed.
Despite the economic slowdown that has seemingly crushed the market for residential projects, costs for commercial development continue to rise, reflecting higher prices for steel, concrete and glass. Competition among contractors is the sole factor dampening the impact of cost increases.
11 comments
I don’t think we should spend Quimby money on temporary parks. We will lose them in a few years, the money will be gone, and there will be no permanent parks from it.
Quimby needs to be used for what it was intended: to provide permanent park space.
Quimby as a program is pretty impractical. I don’t know of any candidate sites that the city can afford with the funds they have available to them. Maybe in 20 years the Downtown-area fund will have enough to purchase a small plot somewhere in the Industrial District.
And still, this courthouse project is probably not going to happen for a long, long time, so what do we do in the meantime?
What to do with the hole? How about they line it with all the old, unused parking meters they’re replacing around town? Then name it “Not a Parking Lot” (as with the “Not a Cornfield” park).
Yeah, a temporary delay in building. Like that “temporary” parking structure across from Disney Hall that was built in 1969, when I was 4. I am middle aged now. Temporary, my foot.
Build a park there. (And don’t put parking underneath it, like Pershing Square did, huh?)
Scott - I’ll ask you the develish question every Angeleno loves to ask “but, where do people park?”.
Don’t truly answer that, it’s a rhetorical question. Just a question that bugs the heck out of me. Heck, Grand Avenue park will have a parking garage underneath as well.
^ Though to be fair, the Grand Avenue park already has a parking garage underneath it.
And with all the layoffs over at the Times, I’m sure they can afford to open their garage up to the public =)
Why can’t the federal government put out a bid for architects to redesign a building within the $314 million figure…(since that dollar amount has already been appropriated)….and then build it?…If it has to be smaller than originally envisioned, then so be it…that way we could live within our budget AND get the facility built. Why does it have be the largest the country??…I would think that even a medium sized courthouse that actually gets built and used would be much more of a benefit to the court system and the public than an unrealistic “pie in the sky” proposal that never gets built. The existing courthouse could also be renovated as well to add capacity.
Am I being too simplistic about this??
The one here in Vegas is similar, and slightly smaller. L. A.’s should actually be bigger than the rendering.
I like the temporary park idea, especially with the unused Quimby fees. So what if it’s dug up in 5 years and the money is “lost”, it will be enjoyed in the meantime and the money’s going to be lost anyway. I also like Ken H.’s suggestion, bid it for less & downsize it.
I really wish they’d open that space up as a park- nothing fancy, but we all know it will be years before anything is done now. Look at the nearby space north of 1st, between Spring and Broadway; that would be a perfect, simple dog park with a little fencing. Right now it’s just a skateboarder’s paradise, and nothing is getting done there either. Come on you government hacks- do something with these large unused spaces, if even on a temporary basis.
Yeah! I know it’s being way naive, but it just seems ridiculous that it is so hard to just flatten the grade, plant some grass with some sprinklers, and put a fence around it and close it down at dusk. I mean, just a big flat grassy area..?? Maybe a couple of trees? Is that so crazy and/or difficult?
And Rich—re: the Times layoffs, I’m laughing, but ouch, that hurt..haha.