Panel Urges $165-Million Scaled-Down Retrofitting of City Hall

The advisory panel on Los Angeles City Hall seismic retrofitting recommended a scaled-down $165-million project Wednesday, sacrificing earlier plans to modernize the building and confining the work to preserving its safety.

The plan, advanced by the 14-member group headed by real estate developer Stuart Ketchum and including several seismic experts, foresees the eventual reoccupation of all City Hall floors with the exception of the observation deck on top.

All floors above the fourth in the 28-story building were vacated last year to facilitate the retrofit work after the building was damaged in the Northridge earthquake, and cost estimates for the original modernization plan had soared to $300 million.

Although there had been some discussion in recent weeks of keeping those floors vacant to save on some types of reinforcement, Ketchum indicated that as soon as feasible--perhaps in three years when the work is completed--civil servants will move back.

And, the panel recommended, the mayor and City Council should remain where they are on the lower floors while the retrofit proceeds.

Mayor Richard Riordan and City Controller Rick Tuttle, who jointly named the advisory panel in November, hailed its recommendations as sound and good for the taxpayers.

“The earthquake did a lot of damage, but not $300-million worth,” said Riordan at a news conference. “We are not trying to recreate the Taj Mahal, just trying to keep the safety-integrity of our building.”

Tuttle said that the project had been suspended last summer “because we could see the creep” toward higher costs and “there are other projects going on for which the money is needed.”

Council President John Ferraro said he was pleased that the Ketchum panel found a way to save City Hall. Ferraro quickly appointed a six-member Ad Hoc City Hall Seismic Committee of the Council, with himself as chairman, to evaluate the recommendations and ponder required council approval.

Originally, in setting goals for the project and authorizing $153 million in seismic bond funds to do it, the council specifically advocated several modernization measures that the panel is now recommending be scrapped.

The panel itself said in its 21-page report that City Hall may need modernization, but maintained that to save money, the retrofit is not the time to do it.

“There is a need to consider renovation and possible replacement of the existing heating, air-conditioning, electrical, plumbing and communications systems in the building,” the panel said.

“The current systems are in general antiquated and show the signs of long-deferred maintenance. While these needs are apparent, they are not in and of themselves required as part of the seismic rehabilitation project because they are not specifically life-safety related.”

The panel was sharply critical of the management of the retrofit before work was suspended, not naming names but appearing to refer to the Board of Public Works, the architectural firm of Albert C. Martin & Associates, the construction management firm of Lehrer McGovern Bovis Inc., and Joe Garron, the project executive for the city.

The project “has not had effective management direction,” the report says. “The absence of an identified leader with authority for the management . . . together with the lack of a governance process for the project, has led to unnecessary complexity and cost.

“The scope, the objectives, and the costs have varied over time and grown without direct accountability or cost restraint. . . . The panel has limited confidence in the cost data provided by both the project/construction manager and the architect.”

J.P. Ellman, president of the Board of Public Works, protested later that her board “did have an eye on the costs of this project. As early as July, we were asking questions about the scope.”

And Ellman said she was reserving judgment on whether the panel’s vision of a ceiling of $165 million on the work, which would include the estimated $30 million to $40 million already spent, was feasible.

Chris Martin of the Martin architectural firm commented, “If they don’t get their act together and get going, this building could be deformed in a major earthquake.” But he said he is supportive of what the panel is trying to do.

The Ketchum panel said some existing contracts should be renegotiated and others perhaps canceled. It also suggested that some design work would have to be redone.

Tuttle said he was told that the panel assumed it could cost up to $30 million to renegotiate or terminate the existing contracts, and he acknowledged that litigation was a possibility. He said such calculations were included in the panel’s estimate that the project could be done for $165 million.

If $30 million to $40 million has already been spent on work and on relocating 900 employees from the upper levels of City Hall, as Tuttle and Martin suggested, and another $30 million goes to redoing contracts, that could leave less than $100 million for the project itself.

Ketchum, however, said the panel was assuming only $25 million had been spent already, and he said he felt the contractual costs were negotiable and would probably be far less than $30 million, perhaps only $5 million.

As for the work, the panel recommended sticking with the system of seismic base isolators, viscous dampers and shear walls that had originally been planned for the seismic reinforcement.

Base isolators attempt to separate a structure from the sharpest ground shaking, and dampers are large shock absorbers. Shear walls reinforce the structure.

The panel recommended omitting plans for any redesign of office space or any fire safety features such as new stairwells.

Martin estimated that among other cost reductions the panel is seeking to save $20 million on the mechanical and electrical elements, another $20 million on fire safety systems, exit systems, stairs, elevators, tenant improvements and fixtures, and an additional $25 to $30 million on relocation costs by keeping employees in the lower floors in place rather than moving them during the work.

Ketchum said Martin’s estimates are not based on any consultations with the panel and there may be another $20 million in savings Martin did not mention.