Hillman Studying $1-Billion Project on Site of Unocal : Complex on L.A.’s ‘West Bank’ Would Be One of City’s Largest
Hillman Properties, which late last year acquired the Unocal headquarters high-rise in downtown Los Angeles, wants to demolish the building and replace it with a huge commercial complex valued at more than $1 billion, the company confirmed Monday.
If approved by the city, the mammoth project would be one of the largest of its kind ever built in downtown Los Angeles. It would take 10 to 15 years to complete and include 5 million square feet for commercial offices, retail shops, parking and a 500-room hotel, according to Robert V. Neary, vice president for Hillman Properties.
“It will bring a world-class, multi-use project to that part of downtown Los Angeles,” Neary said, referring to the west side of the Harbor Freeway, also known as the West Bank of downtown Los Angeles.
Hillman Properties, based in Newport Beach, is part of the empire built by Pittsburgh billionaire Henry L. Hillman. With investments in real estate, industry and high technology, the 69-year-old Hillman is one of the richest men in America, worth an estimated $2.5 billion.
The company paid $205 million for the land in a deal that included the 13-story Unocal building, where about 1,200 oil company employees now work, and 13 surrounding acres of property.
Hillman Properties wants to build the project in three phases. The complex would include the hotel, five office towers and an open air retail plaza, according to Neary. Although he declined to estimate the cost of the development, he said the project would have a value of more than $1 billion when completed.
The first phase calls for twin 42-story office towers plus parking both above and below ground; phase two would add two more office buildings, one 10 stories and the other 65 stories, plus parking, and phase three would have a 25-story hotel, a 35-story office building, parking and a shopping center.
Real estate experts in Los Angeles said the Unocal headquarters, built in 1958, is an outmoded facility that needs expensive renovation work to rid the structure of its asbestos insulation and provide it with a sprinkler system.
A law passed last year by the Los Angeles City Council in the wake of the disastrous fire in the First Interstate bank building requires certain older commercial office buildings in the city to install sprinkler systems within three years.
Hillman Properties hopes to have the first phase of the project done in time for Unocal employees to leave their old office digs and move into the new ones, Neary said. But a spokesman for Unocal said the company had not decided what to do.
“We have no concrete plans now,” the spokesman said. “It’s all under study now.”
Potentially Controversial
Hillman Properties is working on an environmental impact report, after which it will formally apply to the city for building approval, according to city planner Daniel O’Donnell. The company hopes to break ground on the development in the third quarter of 1990.
The project may prove controversial because it promises to add more office space in downtown Los Angeles, where several other pending projects are eventually expected to lead to an oversupply of space.
According to Ralph Jackson, a downtown real estate consultant, “there’s going to be an awful glut soon,” if all these buildings are approved.
The Hillman Properties project also has yet to get the blessing of Councilwoman Gloria Molina. Most of the West Bank lies in Molina’s district, although the Unocal headquarters is actually just across the border from her legislative area.
Molina has pressed hard to ensure that West Bank developers provide affordable housing in the area in return for approvals to build.
City planners are developing a building plan for the West Bank that is expected to be submitted to the City Council for approval within the next few months, O’Donnell said.
