Proposed Cathedral Site to Be Announced

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony is expected to announce today that he wants to construct a Roman Catholic Cathedral on a large county-owned plot of land in downtown Los Angeles between the county’s Hall of Administration on Temple Street and the Hollywood Freeway.

Sources close to the selection process reported Monday that the preferred site is the block-sized parking lot that runs downhill along Temple Street’s north side from Grand Avenue to Hill Street. The lot is best known as parking for Music Center audiences and people with county business.

The cardinal and Supervisor Mike Antonovich, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, are scheduled to hold a press conference this morning on the site to announce the start of formal negotiations.

“There are issues to be decided before the deal can go before the board for their approval, over fair market value, environmental impact reports,” said one source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. At the news conference, “they are simply making their selection known.”

If talks are successful, the site would replace the current location of St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, at 2nd and Main streets, where the cardinal originally wanted to build a replacement as headquarters for the nation’s most populous Roman Catholic archdiocese. However, the cardinal in July abandoned that plan after the archdiocese lost several court battles with preservationists over plans to demolish the 120-year-old cathedral and the archdiocese was unable to acquire needed adjacent land.

After previously warning that he might move the $50-million project entirely out of downtown, Mahony said he wanted to stay in downtown. But city and county officials feared that he might choose to build on the site of the former Union Oil headquarters between 4th and 6th streets, immediately west of the Harbor Freeway. Critics of that location feared the church would be too isolated from the rest of downtown to provide the economic and symbolic boost they hope the cathedral will generate.

A spokesman for the cardinal declined Monday to identify the preferred site, other than to say it is one of three parcels the county owns or controls in the general Civic Center area that the archdiocese had been investigating.

“I’m not going to comment one way or another,” said archdiocese spokesman, Father Gregory Coiro. “I’m not going to give a hint.”

A committee advising the cardinal on a site selection met over the weekend and settled on a location “as the preferred site” for what will be known as “The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels,” Coiro said.

The cathedral architect, Jose Rafael Moneo, also was in Los Angeles over the weekend to inspect various possible locations. Several people close to the situation said that Moneo’s opinion might have been crucial in choosing the Temple Street location.

Part of the appeal of the new site is its proximity to the historic plaza, La Placita Church, and Olvera Street, and the main government buildings downtown. It is also appealing because the county is its only owner, thus avoiding complicated talks with several parties. The location next to the Hollywood Freeway would allow high visibility from the roadway, but it does present some pedestrian barriers and aesthetic questions.

According to sources close to the talks, other sites being considered include: a county-owned property that contains a parking structure, on Grand Avenue between 1st and 2nd streets; the privately held block to the west of the current cathedral; the block just north of St. Vibiana’s, on 1st Street between Main and Los Angeles streets; the vacant lot, controlled by the county but with interests by the state and city, just across from City Hall along 1st Street between Spring and Broadway.