Temporary Library Price Tag Up $1.75 Million

A plan to house the Central Library in the old Bullock’s building in downtown Los Angeles while the present facility is repaired and expanded will cost $1.75 million more than anticipated, the Board of Library Commissioners learned Friday.

City Librarian Wyman Jones reported that the extra cost results from work that must be done on the former department store building--actually two buildings, one fronting on Broadway and the other on Hill Street--to bring it up to seismic code and to safeguard it from fire.

When negotiations to lease the site began last August with its present owner, Los Angeles United Investment Co., it was anticipated that the 4 1/2-year lease would cost $6.5 million. But Friday Wyman said the new figure is $7.95 million.

Needs Council Approval

The library board approved the new lease, and, if it is approved by the City Council, the temporary library could be housed in the structure, now known as St. Vincent’s Square and mainly occupied by jewelry concessions, by the end of this year, board President Ronald S. Lushing said.

“We’re at last seeing light at the end of the tunnel,” Lushing said. “The main thing is to get the public back into the library by the end of 1987. What’s happened today is certainly good news.”

A processing area in the basements of both the Broadway and Hill buildings could be in use in about 3 1/2 months, Lushing said.

The processing area would be used to clean and catalogue books, many of which are in freeze-dried storage. At the same time the processing area opened, library administrative offices would be opened on the seventh floor of the Hill Street building, according to terms of the proposed lease.

If all goes smoothly, books would be stored on the 10 floors of the Broadway building, and the old department store would be open as a library to the public by the end of 1987, Lushing said.

Structural Improvements

Structural improvements would be the responsibility of the owners before then. A major expense, beside bringing the two former Bullock’s buildings up to seismic standards, will be installation of sophisticated fire sprinklers.

During last year’s fire at the main library, many volumes were damaged by the drenching they took when the sprinkler system in the historic structure was set off by a fire that broke out April 29 and a subsequent blaze Sept. 3. Sprinklers at the Bullock’s site will be designed to shut off when damage from heat is substantially reduced. The cost of 2,200 such sprinklers under terms of the new lease will be $35 each, compared to $5 as originally projected.

Another major expense will be a “highly refined air-conditioning system” needed to protect the fragility of many of the damaged volumes, Lushing said.