Council OKs Lease Despite Space Surplus

The City Council approved a three-year, $464,000 lease of a commercial building in Van Nuys on Tuesday, despite concerns by some members that the city owns facilities with unused office space elsewhere.

Councilman Joel Wachs questioned why the city Planning Department wanted to lease 9,350 square feet in an office building on Van Nuys Boulevard when the Department of Water and Power has 76,000 square feet of unused office space in Sun Valley, as well as other vacancies closer to Van Nuys.

Reginald Jones-Sawyer, an assets manager for the city General Services Department, said the Planning Department likes its current facility because it is centrally located in the Valley and because it would be expensive to move to another building.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, meantime, questioned another lease approved Tuesday, a 10-year, $2.6-million deal for space in the county courthouse on South La Cienega Boulevard to be used by the city attorney’s office.

Goldberg said the city might be able to find an office just a mile away for less than the $2.19 per square foot being charged by the county.

However, Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton said the attorneys want to be inside the airport-area courthouse on La Cienega, and also cited moving costs.