West Los Angeles : Courthouses Downsized

As a result of an unexpected drop in funding, two new Westside courthouses will be smaller than originally planned, county planners said.

Instead of $44 million to build an eight-room facility on Purdue Avenue in West Los Angeles, only $38 million will be available, Ken Nishi, manager of capital projects for the Los Angeles Municipal Court District, said Wednesday.

As a result, plans submitted by a development firm have been returned for further study, and the final version will probably contain fewer courtrooms than first expected.

Plans to build 14 courtrooms near Los Angeles International Airport have already been modified so that the building will open with only 10 courtrooms. The rest of the structure will be left unfinished.

That facility, intended to relieve some of the pressure from the overcrowded West Los Angeles courthouse, may be completed if more money becomes available later, Nishi said.

In addition to the funding problems, the projects were also affected by new regulations that call for more holding space for prisoners, he said.

Courthouse space is estimated to cost $190 a square foot, Nishi said, compared to $150 a square foot when the court’s last major project, a new building in Van Nuys, was completed in 1988.

The Purdue Avenue project may be delayed a few months as county officials haggle with the developer and architect about what they can produce for $38 million, Nishi said.

It is scheduled for completion in late 1995 or early 1996. The airport project should be completed by the fall of 1995, he said.