MWD Weighs 4 Choices for New Home

The long and controversial search for a new headquarters by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California may be nearing an end, with agency officials narrowing the hunt to four options, an MWD spokesman said Thursday.

The alternatives include: building a new office tower in downtown Los Angeles, rehabilitating and expanding the agency’s 30-year-old office building at Sunset Boulevard and Beaudry Avenue, buying a downtown office building, or moving to an undisclosed suburban location, the spokesman said.

An agency relocation committee headed by Orange County board member John Killefer is scheduled to recommend an option on Tuesday, according to spokesman Bob Gomperz. The agency’s 51-member board of directors will consider the matter at its Aug. 24 meeting, he said.

Among the downtown sites under consideration is Times Mirror Square, home to the Los Angeles Times and Times Mirror Co., Gomperz said. He would not disclose other sites in contention.

“It meets several general categories,” Gomperz said of Times Mirror Square. “It is in the central downtown Los Angeles area, it is near other government buildings and it has adequate parking.”

Several MWD directors were scheduled today to tour the Times facilities, which include parking garages and several adjoining office buildings covering more than a city block catty-cornered to Los Angeles City Hall. Gomperz said the MWD was approached about the property by a real estate broker.

Times Mirror spokeswoman Martha Goldstein said the company has made no decision to move from its long-time corporate headquarters.

“We understand that the Metropolitan Water District, which is evaluating its space requirements, is giving consideration to our properties, but we have made no decision to relocate,” Goldstein said. “In this market, brokers bring transactions for our review, but we’ve made no decision to relocate.”

If the water district, which supplies about 60% of the water used by 15 million Southern Californians, chooses to build a new downtown headquarters, the relocation committee has recommended it be located at 355 S. Hill St. The site is a vacant lot adjacent to the California Plaza office complex, where the agency recently leased space for a temporary headquarters.

Last year, the MWD signed a six-year, $42-million lease for 14 floors of office space at Two California Plaza, a 52-story high-rise on Grand Avenue. Gomperz said the MWD board plans to move to its new headquarters when that lease expires in 1998.

The agency began searching for a new home several years ago because of an expanding staff and a long list of seismic and fire safety problems at its Sunset Boulevard building. The plan, however, has been rife with controversy.

A proposal to move out of downtown was dropped after the Los Angeles riots under intense pressure from then-Mayor Tom Bradley. Since taking office last month, Mayor Richard Riordan has also “exerted a great deal of influence” on the selection process, MWD officials said, urging the agency not to abandon the inner city.

The proposed move has also led to a series of lawsuits after the water district last year abruptly dropped plans to move into a new high-rise located at 1100 Wilshire Blvd.

The agency acknowledged in one lawsuit last May that it lost $3.3 million on the botched deal.