Building Pact Opens Door for New City Hall

After nine years as a renter, the City of West Hollywood is on the verge of having its own City Hall.

The City Council on Monday authorized the purchase of an office building at 8300 Santa Monica Blvd., near the geographic center of the city. The move to the building, to be completed by 1995, will cost the city $8.4 million, including roughly $2.1 million to build a parking garage and cover the cost of office design.

The building will be acquired via a lease-purchase agreement with the Petersen Publishing Co. At 34,000 square feet, the renovated building will contain 8,000 square feet more than the city now leases at three locations, and will make it possible to combine all administrative services under one roof for the first time since West Hollywood incorporated in 1984.

“Hopefully, it will improve service to the public,” said Joan English, the city’s director of Transportation and Public Works. “Lots of people come to City Hall now and they come to the wrong building.”

The city is also planning to purchase a site to build a station for the Los Angeles County Fire Department to replace a 60-year-old station on Hancock Avenue, which is too small and does not meet standards for earthquake safety.

“We need a larger station on the west side (of West Hollywood) because of the higher structures and narrow streets,” said Nancy Greenstein, the city’s public safety administrator.

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City officials are considering a site on San Vicente Boulevard for the new fire station. Greenstein said West Hollywood and the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors signed a contract for the station in September, but no date has been set for completion of the structure. The city will split the $4-million construction cost with the county, Greenstein said.

The City Council established a steering committee in May, 1992, to find a site for the new City Hall. In choosing the Petersen building, however, the council followed the recommendation of a consulting firm hired two years ago.

Some members of the steering committee expressed frustration Monday that their advice had gone unheeded. “I was disappointed that the sites we chose weren’t considered,” said committee member Donna Saur. She said the group met regularly for 18 months to research sites that met the city’s requirements.

City officials said they took the steering committee’s recommendations and built upon them. The Petersen building was priced the lowest of the three final prospective sites, they said.

The closest West Hollywood came previously to having a City Hall of its own was in 1989, when Councilman John Heilman proposed the construction of a $23-million civic center in West Hollywood Park.

Heilman’s plan encountered widespread opposition, however, and was ultimately rejected by voters in a referendum.