Civic Center for Valley Backed Despite Costs

Despite a 50% jump in costs, the city’s top two administrators are prepared to recommend that Los Angeles go ahead with construction of a new civic center building in Van Nuys to provide centralized services for the San Fernando Valley, officials said Monday.

A report by Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton and Acting City Administrative Officer Paul Cauley was being finalized Monday for release as early as today so it can be acted on next month by the City Council, officials said.

Deputy City Administrator Bill Mercer, who wrote the report, said the building, to be located on the southeast corner of Van Nuys Boulevard and Sylvan Street, is badly needed. “The price hasn’t gone up enough to make it an unfeasible project.”

The City Council initially approved the project in concept in 1997, awarding a $75,000 predevelopment loan to contractor the Voit Cos.

Under the proposal, the Voit Cos. would build the 142,000-square-foot Marvin Braude San Fernando Valley Constituent Service Center with $34 million in private financing and lease it back to the city for 30 years.

The negotiated agreements between the city and the developer include an option for the city to buy the building eventually.

Those agreements are part of the report expected to be forwarded this week to the City Council for final approval.

Since the council initially approved the project, it has been scaled back from 210,000 to 142,000 square feet, in part to keep costs down.

Originally, city officials said they hoped the annual lease costs for the building would be less than the $2 million yearly cost to lease private office space for the numerous city agencies spread throughout the Valley.

But, project manager Claire Bartels said Monday that the lease cost for the smaller building now will be about $3 million annually. Some of the costs would be offset by savings in canceling the current private leases and in revenue from retail operations proposed for the building.

Some of the early costs will be offset by relocation grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover the cost of providing offices for workers from nearby Van Nuys City Hall during a renovation of that building, which is more than 60 years old.

After subtracting the savings in existing private leases, building maintenance, retail rent revenue and a federal grant to temporarily relocate workers from the Van Nuys City Hall, the council will still have to come up with about $750,000 annually from the general fund to cover the new leases in the early years, officials said.

“That’s an optimistic estimate, but what we think is realistic,” Bartels said.

City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, whose district includes the Van Nuys civic center area, is excited that the project is about to go to council for final approval, her spokeswoman Rosalind Stewart said.

Miscikowski believes the cost is not the only factor to consider.

“It’s more than that,” Stewart said. “It’s bringing together all of the offices to serve the community.”

Once the council approves the project, ground will be broken within six months, and the three-story building will be completed 18 months after that, Bartels said.