Committee OKs Plan to Retrofit City Hall

A $273-million plan for the seismic retrofitting, remodeling and modernization of Los Angeles City Hall won approval of a key City Council committee Monday, although two of its council backers said they are worried that costs could rise to $500 million.

The five-year project would include moving the mayor and City Council out of the building for three years and would cost more than $100 million above the amount recommended earlier in the year by a panel that looked into scaling back the scope of the work.

City Council President John Ferraro said a vote in the full council could come as early as next Tuesday. Ferraro and fellow committee members Richard Alatorre, Jackie Goldberg and Rita Walters all voted for the plan.

When City Hall retrofitting was discussed after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the initial price tag was $92 million.

As cost estimates soared to $240 million in the summer of 1995, work was ordered suspended, and Mayor Richard Riordan and City Controller Rick Tuttle appointed a panel of experts to search for less expensive alternatives.

But because the building was going to be vacated and torn up for the retrofitting, there has been a strong push on the council for modernizing it at the same time.

The Northridge earthquake dislodged tiles at City Hall, sending some crashing 26 stories to the ground, and forced the closure of the structure’s ceremonial entrance. A black shroud, which was removed last week, was required to prevent other tiles from falling.

Without retrofitting, engineers have warned, a major quake could cause devastating damage.

The plan advanced Monday in a special committee on the retrofitting project would use a system of base isolators to reduce shaking at City Hall in the event of an earthquake. It also would add stairwells, remodel offices, buy new furniture, modernize electrical systems and put more new tiles on the building.

A $126-million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, plus $230 million in seismic bonds already approved by city voters, are available for the work. If it is not used at City Hall, the bond money could be used for many other projects.

One project that has been mentioned behind the scenes in the Riordan administration is a retrofitting and modernization of Parker Center, the police headquarters, although a complete remodeling project at both City Hall and Parker Center would appear to be beyond the city’s means.

*

The $273-million proposal endorsed Monday was developed by City Engineer Sam L. Furuta and Chief Legislative Analyst Ronald F. Deaton. It includes $58 million for moving all employees out of the building, including the hundreds already transferred from upper floors to far-flung locations, and $11 million for contingencies.

The mayor, council members and other high-level city officials would be moved to floors three through five in adjacent City Hall East. Deaton said it would take a year and a half to prepare their quarters.

In the meantime, plans could be finalized, contracts let and some preparatory work could be done on the City Hall project.

But there were suggestions Monday that even $273 million was not enough for the entire project.

After Walters pushed through an amendment that would add electrical, plumbing and mechanical improvements on lower floors, the chairman of the panel, developer Stuart Ketchum, said he estimated that alone could increase the overall cost to $330 million.

*

Ketchum later scaled back his estimate, but Goldberg and Alatorre both said they fear inflation and the five-year length of the project could sharply increase costs. Both mentioned a possible total of $500 million.

“I keep asking if it’s really $273 million,” Goldberg said.

“I don’t want to find out the real costs a month from now or a year from now,” Alatorre said. “I’d rather hear the bad news now.”

The two council members were scarcely reassured when the private project manager, Charles Merrick of the Lehrer McGovern & Bovis firm, said under questioning that the $273 million did not include inflation of construction costs.

Merrick, however, later said he hoped that most of the contracts could be let soon, for a firmer amount.

The Lehrer McGovern firm would be retained under the plan approved Monday, and the council committee authorized the establishment of a Project Governance Committee that would include the city’s chief administrative officer, the city engineer and the chief legislative analyst.

Another Walters amendment designated the city engineer, Furuta, to command the overall project.

After costs rose before, the panel of experts suggested that Lehrer McGovern project supervisors found it impossible to get clear direction from the city government.

The city controller, Tuttle, said Monday that the new governance committee could avoid such problems in the future.