Federal Building in Westwood Stands Tall Despite Repair Bill

The startling government report caught even the man who runs the place by surprise.

Westwood’s landmark Federal Building needs $75 million worth of repairs, the U.S. General Accounting Office disclosed in a new survey of government property.

That didn’t sound right to James D. Wharrie Jr., senior property manager at the well-maintained high-rise at 11000 Wilshire Blvd. True, work is underway on the 17-floor building’s air-conditioning chillers. And yes, he’d like to install spiffy new elevator cars for use by the 1,800 federal employees who work there.

But is that enough to land the building at eighth on the federal government’s list of its top 10 troubled buildings nationwide?

The federal building rankings released last month suggesting that Westwood’s is one of America’s worst is misleading, officials said Friday.

Leaders of the General Services Administration said the 32-year-old building, which attracts crowds to its passport office and to frequent political protests on its north lawn, functions fine and is perfectly safe. But because of its age, it’s time to start thinking about upgrading its electrical, plumbing, heating and other systems. And that’s where the $75 million comes in.

Actual modernization might not take place until things start to actually wear out. And that could be 30 years from now, they say.

The General Accounting Office repair ranking lists the Westwood building as eighth in terms of the estimated expense of work needed in the future. In all, 903 of the 1,682 buildings managed by the General Services Administration need about $4 billion in repairs and renovations.

The federal building needing the most work (an estimated $187 million worth) is the Old Executive Office Building in Washington. That 112-year-old building is next door to the White House.

The repair list was released last month to a congressional panel on public buildings as a follow-up to a 1991 building survey. The list came to light Tuesday in a Washington Post story that had those familiar with the Westwood building scratching their heads.

“The impression from the media is, ‘Oh, gee, the building is in bad shape and about to fall over,’ ” said Mary Filippini, a spokeswoman for the GSA’s Western Region in San Francisco. “You can see that is not the case.”

The $75-million estimate is a running tally of what it would cost to modernize by replacing plumbing, electrical and air-conditioning and heating systems, removing all asbestos insulation and upgrading such things as elevators and communications systems.

“The building manager was kind of surprised it added up to that much. But it does add up to that,” Filippini said.

That estimate includes the cost of future earthquake reinforcement, although “seismically, it’s in good condition. It’s pretty solid--there are no life safety issues here. It’s absolutely safe to be in,” she said. “But to bring it up to today’s standards would cost probably over $20 million.”

Estimated cost breakdowns for other types of work were unavailable Friday. But Filippini said asbestos removal would be a relatively minor project in Westwood because the insulating material used there is not the type that breaks loose in the air.

Some of the modernizing will take place as interior spaces in the aluminum-trimmed, 643,000-square-foot building are remodeled for tenants. They include the FBI, Social Security Administration, Department of Labor, State Department, Peace Corps, U.S. Information Agency, Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Post Office.

Filippini said the Westwood building’s spot on the list is the result of experts’ best guesses of the “life cycle” of materials used in its construction.

“This building has reached its life cycle of 30 years. But it could last 60 years,” she said.