LOS ANGELES COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT : Headquarters Purchase Criticized

The Los Angeles Community College District’s decision to buy a nine-story Wilshire Boulevard building for its new headquarters has touched off a controversy among students and faculty.

At its Nov. 28 meeting, the district Board of Trustees authorized the purchase of a nine-story, 100,000-square-foot building at 4050 Wilshire Blvd. that will cost $55 million in lease payments and another $30.6 million in operational and other costs over the next 25 years.

District administrators plan to move into the new building this summer. The district offices are currently housed in rented space at 617 W. 7th St. in downtown Los Angeles.

The decision to purchase the building comes at a time when the district faces an $8-million deficit and has cut hundreds of classes districtwide, including many at Pierce College in Woodland Hills and Valley College in Van Nuys.

Some students and faculty members say the money would be better spent to restore the classes that were cut, but Chancellor Donald G. Phelps and other administrators said the purchase is designed to save money in the long run.

“We will spend $9 million more” over the next 25 years “and have nothing but rent receipts to show for it,” if the Wilshire Boulevard building is not purchased, Phelps said.

Board President David Lopez-Lee initially opposed the purchase, but changed his mind at the last minute. Trustee Harold Garvin, who voted against the purchase, said that building a new facility at one or more of the nine campuses would cost considerably less.

Sam Muhayimana, Associated Students Organization president at Pierce College, said he agrees with Garvin.

“If you build it at a campus, you don’t have to buy the land, just the building,” Muhayimana said.

District administrators said efforts to find land at one of the campuses were unsuccessful.

The building’s purchase will be financed through the sale of $30-million worth of certificates of participation.

The district will set up a nonprofit corporation that will sell the certificates on the bond market in New York and will then pay lease payments to this corporation. The corporation will be owned and operated by the board.

“The key point is that when the 25 years are up, we will own a new asset,” said Larry Serot, acting vice chancellor of business services. In addition, Serot said that since the district will not be using the entire building, space is available to rent.

“Based on current value, renting this space could bring the district an additional $185,000 a year,” Serot said.

Gwen Hill, district American Federation of Teachers president, worried that the building might provide incentives to hire more central administrative staff.

“It could mean more mini-managers making more mistakes,” Hill said. “I want guarantees that you will not turn this into a Taj Mahal,” she told trustees.