Another Grand Avenue Park Sought

Eli Broad, top state court officials and county administrators are crafting a plan to eventually tear down the massive Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles and replace it with a park as part of the philanthropist’s Grand Avenue revitalization plan.

The park would be connected to a 16-acre terraced open space that would be the centerpiece of efforts by Broad, the city and county to make Grand Avenue -- already home to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Disney Hall and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion -- into a cultural center for Los Angeles.

Businessman and philanthropist Broad is the co-chairman of the Grand Avenue Committee.

The park addition could occur only through a complex series of deals that would increase the mandate of the joint city-county group that oversees the Grand Avenue project and allow a land swap so a courthouse could be built elsewhere downtown.

The county Board of Supervisors is considering a similar plan to raze its Hall of Administration.

Approval of both those projects would add 10 acres of parkland in the area.

As downtown has seen a boom in loft and high-end condo construction in recent years, many new residents have complained about the lack of open space in the city center.

Some have complained about the city’s plan to build a new Los Angeles Police Department headquarters at the corner of Second and Spring streets, where a downtown revitalization plan called for building a civic park.

The $1.6-billion Grand Avenue project calls for the construction of several skyscrapers as well as a shopping center, bookstore, multiplex movie theater and gourmet supermarket. The terraced park would connect Bunker Hill to the Civic Center. Backers have said the projects would link some of Los Angeles’ most iconic buildings and create a grand boulevard for Los Angeles akin to the Champs Elysees.

Broad was out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment.

California Chief Justice Ronald George said he recently received a call from Broad, an acquaintance, to discuss the court-park swap.

George is involved in the negotiations because a state law mandates that control and financial responsibility for court buildings must shift to Sacramento from all of California’s 58 counties by 2007.

Those efforts have been complicated because nearly half of the court buildings have substantial structural damage, and current law requires repair before the transfer can occur.

The Mosk courthouse, the largest in the state, was erected in 1958 by a consortium of architects that included Paul R. Williams.

It has serious seismic and asbestos issues, George said.

“The problem is that the county has to spend a lot of money to bring [it] up to code and then transfer it,” he added. “This site is a very big one and very costly. We could use a good part of whatever money we get from an infrastructure bond on this one site.”

George said he asked for Broad’s support as he lobbied for a state Senate bill that would give the counties and the state the flexibility to negotiate transfer of buildings with seismic issues, with counties retaining liability until the corrections were made.

William MacLaughlin, presiding judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, questioned the idea of retrofitting the courthouse.

“The cost of a seismic retrofit for this building would be substantial,” MacLaughlin said. “I would legitimately raise the question of whether it would be worth the significant financial investment or to create a new facility elsewhere. I think that could have been a question regardless of the Grand Avenue project. Taken in conjunction, I think that’s probably caused people to speculate.”

Under one scenario, the county would transfer title of the building and the property to the state. “If we at that point wish the court to leave and use it as a park,” said County Chief Administrative Officer David E. Janssen, “someone will have to pay them for the property.”

A more likely scenario would be for the county to offer nearby property for one or more courthouses to replace the 100 courtrooms in the Mosk building. Janssen mentioned a law library and an empty former state building, both near the corner of First Street and Broadway, as possible courthouse sites.

But the question of who pays for moving court services to a new location is an “outstanding issue,” Janssen said.

Estimates have placed the cost of building a new courthouse at about $500 million.

Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors voted to study county space needs as they consider seven proposals for either fixing or moving the Hall of Administration. Among those choices is a plan to move some workers to an office building that has been proposed as part of the third phase of the Grand Avenue project.

Critics of the Grand Avenue plans have seized on the prospect that the developer, Related Cos., could gain added benefit if county offices were moved to a building in the project. They have said the public needs a much clearer understanding of the costs and benefits to public agencies before moving forward.

Broad has long advocated and lobbied for the transformation of the downtown district along Grand Avenue. He was an instrumental force behind MOCA and Disney Hall, and he lobbied Los Angeles school officials to redesign a campus at its former headquarters into an elaborate visual and performing arts school.

Martha Welborne, managing director of the Grand Avenue Committee, said the project would continue to evolve.

“Our charge is to keep moving,” she said, “and we have the mandate to have the [16-acre terraced] park finished as part of Phase One.... It’s a typically murky public works project. Whether there’s [an additional] park or not, we don’t even know.”