County, Private Firms Team to Build Offices : $200-Million Complex to Rise on Public Land Near Airport
The quasi-public Economic Development Corp. has teamed with two private companies and plans to build a sprawling, $200-million office complex in an unincorporated area just south of Los Angeles International Airport.
The proposed 1.5-million-square-foot complex, called Pacific Concourse, is one of the largest joint projects ever planned by a government agency and private companies.
Local governments have increasingly turned to so-called “public/private partnerships” to increase tax revenue and create jobs in the face of dwindling federal help. Many private developers like the concept because it allows them to build on prime, government-owned land and share in the profits the project generates.
Pacific Concourse will be built on a 30-acre site the EDC owns on the southwest side of the interchange of the San Diego and Century freeways. That intersection, to be completed in 1991, will stand between the La Cienega and El Segundo boulevard exits of the San Diego Freeway.
Completion Next Year
Under terms of an agreement signed last month, Carson-based developer Overton, Moore & Associates will lease the EDC site for 75 years. Construction on two 3-story office buildings and one 4-story building will begin next month, with completion scheduled for early next year.
OMA hopes to build another five office buildings and a multilevel parking structure on the site within the next 10 years, said OMA President Stanley Moore.
Boston-based Copley Real Estate Advisors, which invests in property on behalf of pension funds, is OMA’s joint-venture partner in the deal and will provide all the financing.
The Pacific Concourse project should create between 2,000 and 2,500 jobs and generate $2 million a year in property taxes for the county, an EDC official said.
Rising Rental Income
EDC was formed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1981 to stimulate the local economy, create jobs and add to the county’s tax base.
EDC is expected to collect at least $400,000 a year in rental income in the early years of the project, and up to $800,000 a year if later phases are approved. The money would help fund future EDC activities throughout the county.
Residents in the area had expressed concern that any development of the site would create traffic and noise problems. As part of a compromise, OMA agreed to spend $10 million on landscaping and infrastructure.
Much of the money will be used to create a natural sight and sound buffer between the project and nearby homes. Several cul-de-sacs will be built inside the office park to prevent traffic from going through surrounding residential areas.
Bronze Sculpture
The first three buildings, which have already been approved, will be built around a quad area that features a 15-foot bronze sculpture by Aristedes Demetrios of San Francisco. Demetrios’ credits include the White Memorial at Stanford University.
Three of the remaining five office buildings proposed for the site would be built around a man-made lake. All five buildings and the parking structure would have to be approved by various county agencies, and would be erected over the next eight to 10 years.
The Nadel Partnership of Santa Monica is project architect.
OMA has built several projects in the South Bay and other parts of the Southland. Copley, one of the nation’s biggest pension fund real estate advisers, is involved with several residential and commercial projects in Southern California.
Doug Ring, head of the real estate practice in the Los Angeles office of Shea & Gould, negotiated the lease between EDC and OMA. The Seeley Co.’s Torrance office is the project’s exclusive marketing agent.
