LOS ANGELES : MWD Orders Study of 4 Sites for Headquarters

The directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California on Tuesday authorized detailed studies of four possible sites in the agency’s long-simmering effort to replace or restore its Los Angeles headquarters. The reports are due in November and a final decision may come soon afterward, officials said.

The four possibilities are to expand and renovate the district’s campus at Sunset Boulevard and Beaudry Avenue near Dodger Stadium; to purchase Times Mirror Square, the block-large complex that houses the Los Angeles Times and its parent corporation, the Times Mirror Co.; to build a high-rise on land next to Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, or to construct a headquarters on MWD-owned property in La Verne, on Arrow Highway near Brackett Field airport.

In a surprise move, the MWD board rejected the recommendation of its site selection task force that one finalist site be at the edge of Bunker Hill, at 4th and Hill streets. Instead, the board was more attracted to the mass transit center and high-rise complex planned around Union Station and felt that investment would help the city most there, officials said.