Cathedral Project Looks at New Sites

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is exploring alternative locations, including some outside downtown, for a new St. Vibiana’s Cathedral other than at its current historic site at 2nd and Main streets, officials said.

Prompting their search, they contend, are high prices for land acquisition and a possible fight with preservationists over the existing cathedral.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and his advisors stress that they still hope to build a new cathedral as planned at 2nd and Main. Yet they expressed fears about financial troubles and long delays for what is to be the spiritual headquarters for the nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese.

“We’d love to stay on this historic block,” the cardinal said. “We’d love to stay in this historic area. But we have to weigh the reality.”

Although some observers suggested that the archdiocese is using the explorations as a bargaining tactic with downtown landowners, other officials insisted that the possibility of moving elsewhere is real and extremely upsetting for hopes that a new cathedral would help revive Los Angeles’ troubled urban core and Civic Center.

“I think it is serious enough to make me feel like I’m having a heart attack,” said Los Angeles City Council member Rita Walters, in whose district the cathedral stands. “We just simply cannot let go of this,” she added. “It means so much to the city to have this new cathedral built downtown, and I certainly don’t want to lose this opportunity.”

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The archdiocese declined to identify other specific sites, although its interest reportedly focuses on land it owns within the city, including at least one sizable parcel in the San Fernando Valley.

A location will be decided in early June, according to archdiocese spokesman Father Gregory Coiro. The cardinal later this week is holding final interviews with the five architects he is considering for the design job and wants that chosen designer to start work soon with a site in mind, Coiro said.

Coiro strongly denied speculation that church officials might be posturing. “This is something that is in dead earnest,” he said. He emphasized that the cardinal wants the new cathedral’s basic structure dedicated in 2000, an ambitious goal even with no real estate problems.

The cardinal and advisors held a meeting Wednesday morning on the location issue. The result was “nothing definitive,” Coiro said. He said the cathedral project will stay put if three issues are settled: that the asking prices for properties come down, that preservationists assure that they will not file lawsuits, and that civic officials offer more cooperation.

The cathedral’s estimated $45-million construction cost was being raised from private donors, but some archdiocese officials now concede that an extra $15 million might be needed for the land purchases.

The archdiocese owns about a third of the downtown block at 2nd and Main and wants to acquire all, or a large portion of the rest for a new cathedral, rectory, conference hall and plaza. That means negotiating with 10 owners for 12 parcels, including parking lots and seven buildings such as an abandoned theater, a small hotel, a printing plant and a taco stand, sources said.

Church leaders fear what they contend could be a nasty legal battle with preservationists who want to save the existing 120-year-old cathedral and incorporate it into a new, larger cathedral complex. St. Vibiana’s is closed because of seismic damage that the archdiocese’s engineers say will take $20 million to repair, although preservationists say repairs can be done for less than $5 million. Although Mahony last year advocated demolition, he now says he awaits the architect’s advice.

Kathryn Welch Howe, president of the Los Angeles Conservancy, said it is unfair to suggest that her preservationist organization is threatening any lawsuit involving the landmark cathedral, which is a city historic-cultural monument. She said she hopes to continue discussions with the archdiocese.

“We are very hopeful the Cathedral Square project stays downtown because that site presents a range of compelling opportunities,” she said.

Demolition of historic-cultural monuments is not forbidden under city law but can be delayed for a year for preservation efforts.

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Several attempts to build a new cathedral outside downtown were planned earlier in the century but never completed. Mahony’s supporters describe his original decision to stay downtown as brave because some influential, suburban Catholics want the cathedral in a prettier setting. In recent years, the 1,200-seat church has usually attracted no more than 200 worshipers for Sunday and weekday Masses, but the new cathedral is supposed to hold up to 3,000 people for special ceremonies.

Mayor Richard Riordan will try to solve whatever problems the cathedral project faces to ensure it remains downtown, according to mayoral spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez. “The mayor has heard of the cardinal’s concerns and shares those concerns,” she said.

Carol Schatz, president of the Central City Assn. of Los Angeles, said she hopes that property owners do not play such a high-risk bidding game that downtown loses the “multiple positive impacts” of a new cathedral. “It will be a shame if greed prevents this project,” she stated, adding that she knows of no other plans for that depressed block.

People trying to revitalize downtown are already upset with the delays and cost overruns for the unbuilt Disney Concert Hall that is supposed to crown Bunker Hill. That auditorium and the cathedral are viewed as cultural anchors and spurs to possible improvements nearby.

“If the cathedral would leave downtown, it would be devastating to all of our plans,” said Daniel Rosenfeld, the city’s real estate management official who is a leader of efforts to improve the Civic Center. “It represents the largest private investment and the potential for the highest quality symbolic statement that we could possibly want downtown.”