Local News in Brief : Church Will Sell Building

The Episcopal Church is about to sell its headquarters near downtown Los Angeles to Unocal for $2.75 million and two years of free rent, representatives of both sides said Thursday.

The purchase would complete the oil company’s gradual acquisition of nearly an entire block just north of its 5th Street headquarters, part of a plan, as yet undisclosed, for development in a depressed area known as the “West Bank” of the Harbor Freeway.

“By acting at this time, the diocese has obviated the possibility of being left out of the real estate assemblage Unocal is putting together, and of its own property value being depreciated beyond the point of recovery,” according to a letter to Episcopal clergy from the diocese’s board of directors.

Although terms of the sale have been announced, lawyers have yet to work out the final details, a Unocal spokesman said.

Peter Mann, administrator of the diocese, said the church will not decide where to move its headquarters until after the expected inauguration of a new bishop later this year.