LOS ANGELES : 900 School Employees May Move to Bunker Hill

About 900 Los Angeles Unified School District employees housed in a quake-damaged warehouse in the garment district appear headed for a fancy office building on Bunker Hill after a Monday night vote by the school board.

Under a proposed lease agreement approved by the board, the district would pay $38 million over the next seven years to sublease space in the Wells Fargo Center from IBM, with a move possible after March 1. The search for new quarters began last fall after the district learned during a post-Northridge quake review that its Business Services Center would not be safe in a strong temblor.

The plush offices come with several incentives thrown in by IBM, including subfloor computer wiring, furniture and a security system. District staff said that despite its upscale address, the IBM tower was the most affordable of 38 options studied because of the abundance of recession-emptied offices on Bunker Hill.

Los Angeles Unified is concurrently studying the possibility of grouping all of its Downtown operations--now scattered over at least five sites--and perhaps even moving the district headquarters now at Grand Avenue and the Hollywood Freeway.

However, district administrators emphasized that the IBM tower is temporary quarters for the business center and would not be considered for the consolidated administration.