L.A. May Condemn Land for Valley Police Station

With talks at a stalemate, Los Angeles officials moved Monday toward forcing an auto maker to sell land it owns in Mission Hills for use as the San Fernando Valley’s sixth police station.

The Los Angeles City Council Public Safety Committee recommended Monday that condemnation be authorized after DaimlerChrysler refused to sell the three-acre site at 11121 Sepulveda Blvd.

“We made them an offer and they said no, so this is our only option: to use eminent domain and condemn it,” said Patrick McAree, the LAPD’s manager of the project.

The car maker bought the property last year and is moving to build a car dealership on the site, said Robert Beehler, a real estate manager for DaimlerChrysler. Beehler said he was disappointed the city may try to force the sale.

“We have always felt that the city never looked at alternative sites,” Beehler said.

A city appraisal set the fair market value of the property at $3.1 million, but DaimlerChrysler set the price at about $8 million, according to Nassef Eskander, a city architect. The company, which declined comment on Eskander’s assertion, bought the property for $3 million.

DaimlerChrysler also has spent money to prepare for the dealership, including soil tests and marketing studies, Beehler said.

The five police stations in the Valley cover an average of 45 square miles apiece, more than twice the area policed by other stations, officials said.

Eskander joined other city officials in recommending that the city use its power to forcibly acquire the property.

Eminent domain cases can take about a year if a trial is needed to set the price of the land, according to Ken Cirlin, an assistant city attorney.