Fire-Ravaged Tower Reopens

Just in case any of his co-workers had lingering doubts about safety, Joseph J. Pinola, chairman of the board of First Interstate Bancorp, reported for work Tuesday on the top floor of the downtown office tower that bears his company’s name.

And with his entrance, Los Angeles’ tallest building was reopened for business after four months and tens of millions of dollars in repairs. A May 4 fire at the 62-story First Interstate Bank building swept through four floors, left one man dead and 40 other workers injured.

The structure is “probably as safe as any building in the city,” said Pinola at an early morning press conference in his office.

All floors of the tower have been approved for reopening by city fire and building officials after completion of a fire sprinkler system, installation of 700 new smoke detectors and two lengthy studies of the building’s structural integrity.

Along with the executive suite, the ground-floor branch was reopened promptly at 9:30 a.m. to a handful of waiting customers who were greeted by manager Janis Wainright and a banner proclaiming “Thank You for Your Patience and Support; We’re Back and Stronger Than Ever.”

Despite the four-month relocation in quarters two blocks away, Wainright said the branch lost few of its 26,000 savings and checking accounts.

Most of the remaining 57 floors in between the executive penthouse and the ground-level branch will be reoccupied a few at a time during the next several weeks, said Jerry Poppink, a spokesman for the partnership of First Interstate and Equitable Life Assurance Society of America, owners of the office tower.

As of Tuesday, 16 floors were reopened to tenants. By the end of the month 29 floors will be reoccupied and 14 more are scheduled to reopen in October.

Floors 10 through 18, which suffered most of the fire damage, will not be reoccupied until next spring, Poppink said. The remaining 10 floors of the 62-story tower have not yet been assigned dates to be reopened.

At least two tenants, including one who has filed suit against the building owners, said they will not return to the building, citing safety concerns. But Poppink said the building’s vacancy rate--about 15% before the fire--has remained steady.

Most customers of the bank said they are glad to have the branch open again. “It’s fantastic,” said Debbie, a secretary from a nearby building who was moving too quickly to give her last name.

But another customer, perplexed by questions about the branch reopening said simply, “What’s the big deal?”