Library, Office Towers Plan Is Delayed Again

The Community Redevelopment Agency agreed Friday to another postponement of the already behind-schedule plan to renovate and expand Los Angeles Central Library in conjunction with a huge private development project.

Maguire Thomas Partners, the developer, said it needs the six-month delay--the third granted this year--to secure financing. Under the terms of the agreement with the redevelopment agency, the developer is to pay into a fund to be used for the improvements to the library, which was damaged in an arson fire last April. In return for those payments, the city is allowing the developer to exceed height limits on two office towers it plans to build near the library.

Deals With Tenants

Nelson Rising, one of the project partners, told reporters that the agreement with the city could be reached before the new June 15 deadline if deals with “40% to 60%” of the firm’s prospective tenants are completed.

With those agreements in hand, Maguire Thomas should have little difficulty securing the $350-million financing for the first of its two office towers and its obligations to the city, Rising said.

Redevelopment agency negotiator Richard D’Amico said he is confident that Maguire Thomas will meet the new deadline. He added, however, that “(our) patience is going to run out on June 15. It makes it more and more difficult to proceed with the library if you are talking about any extension beyond June 15.”

In return for the extension, Maguire Thomas agreed to reimburse the agency for any lost revenues if start-up financing is still lacking by June 15. Maguire Thomas could lose up to $4 million in penalties and other costs if escrow fails to close on time.

After first balking at the demand, the developers also agreed to pay the redevelopment agency $945,000 in interest that the agency would have earned over six months on $26.9 million that Maguire Thomas was to have paid by last Monday. The payment was intended to help pay for design work on the library, the two office towers, a new park and a large outdoor stairway linking the site to nearby Bunker Hill.

Lease Arrangements

Insufficient numbers of tenants had been cited by Maguire Thomas in its earlier requests to delay payments to the city. But Rising said Friday that the developer is no longer searching for prospective office tenants and instead is conducting negotiations to complete lease arrangements. That process could take three to six months, Rising added.

In a related development, redevelopment agency board members gave a cool reception to a rival library renovation plan proposed by public relations executive Ralph Jackson and real estate developer John D. Morrissey. Agency officials, noting that they agreed two years ago to negotiate exclusively with Maguire Thomas, said the Jackson-Morrissey plan is incompatible with community desires since it calls for a 60-story high-rise on the library grounds.

Jackson told the board that, unlike Maguire Thomas, backers of the alternative proposal are ready to proceed, are fully financed and have prospective tenants lined up. But board Chairman Jim Wood rapped the discussion to a close, first saying that Jackson’s proposal was late and then adding that the city Library Commission should be the agency to review it.