Central Los Angeles : Police Station Takes Shape

At the corner of Broadway and 77th Street in South-Central Los Angeles, more than 80 workers are pouring concrete and erecting a steel frame, laying the foundation for a new 77th Street Division station.

“It’s not just a neighborhood police station,” said John Dunay, a construction administrator on the project. The $37-million 77th Street Regional Police Facility will hold administrative areas, three rooms that can be used for community meetings and a jail with temporary holding cells for more than 140 inmates.

The building will hold about 600 police employees, double the number who currently work in five trailers at the 77th Division’s temporary station about three miles away on South St. Andrews Place.

“All of us are looking forward to moving in,” Capt. Richard Gonzales said. The additional officers will come from other divisions, Gonzales said.

“You have to show that the place is safe and strong, but still you don’t want it to look too strong,” Mahmoud Gharachedaghi, the project’s designer, said of the horseshoe-shaped station. “Without compromising security, we provided all kinds of windows, and we didn’t follow the bunker mentality.”