Central Los Angeles : Broadway Building Purchased by State

State and local officials Friday celebrated the state’s purchase of the long-vacant Broadway department store at 4th Street and Broadway, a move viewed as a step for the revitalization of Downtown Los Angeles.

The eight-story building, which saw its last tenant nearly three decades ago, is known primarily nowadays for the graffiti that blankets its walls and windows from street to rooftop.

But the graffiti will disappear as work on a $69-million renovation begins next spring, said officials who gathered Friday in a parking lot across the street from the building’s spray-paint-covered facade. When renovation is completed in 1999, the building will provide space for 1,700 state employees.

The state bought the building from a group of banks for $1.8 million, and the city of Los Angeles forgave $1.7 million in uncollected property taxes.

“This partnership with the city and the state is another example of ‘together, we’re the best, Los Angeles,’ ” said Mayor Richard Riordan, speaking from a podium flanked by an old photograph of the 80-year-old building and a rendering of the renovated building.

As the renovation begins, Riordan said, about 350 elementary school students will draw murals to help cover construction barricades.

To illustrate, the mayor called a group of four students to the podium. “What do you think of the graffiti up there?” he asked them, pulling a startled Tony Stotzer, 10, toward the microphone by his collar.

“It sucks,” Stotzer said as nervous laughs of agreement rose from the adults.