Costs of New LAPD Home Grow Again

Two Los Angeles city managers have recommended the City Council again increase the budget for the new police headquarters complex but also scale back the project, at least temporarily, to contain costs.

City Administrative Officer William T. Fujioka and Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry F. Miller called for bumping to $396.8 million the budget for the project, which was approved two years ago at $302.7 million. They also outlined several other measures to rein in costs.

Their recommendations are expected to be closely scrutinized by members of the City Council, who must decide whether to approve the new budget.

Councilman Jack Weiss said “caution is called for,” but that the city desperately needs a new police headquarters, and delaying the project, rather than taking the advice of the managers, would probably add to its cost.

“I am concerned that any failure to proceed will result in more costs down the line,” said Weiss, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee.

The project includes an 11-story, 500,000-square-foot police headquarters building to be constructed at 1st and Spring streets, south of City Hall, as well as a new Motor Transport Division facility, an LAPD employee parking garage and a public parking structure.

In March, the City Council boosted the budget to $340.9 million, citing higher than expected costs. But Miller and Fujioka, in a council memo made public Wednesday, said that amount still would not be enough.

One problem: Only one bid was submitted for the headquarters portion of the project, and it came it at $243.7 million, or $43.7 million over what that city engineer had estimated the project would cost.

Since then, the city engineer has negotiated with bidder Tutor-Saliba Corp. to reduce the cost to $231.3 million, in part by eliminating work by the firm to widen Temple Street and provide metal lockers, trashcans, benches and planters.

The city managers said Tutor-Saliba proposed the widening and furnishings for $3.7 million, but the city engineer said the work can be provided by another contractor for $1.47 million.

Meanwhile, the price tag of the overall project continues to grow because of higher than expected design, land acquisition, materials and debt costs, city officials said.

The city engineer did not recommend re-bidding the project, because doing so usually results in higher bids or no bids at all, according to Fujioka and Miller.

As a result, the mayor’s office joined Fujioka and Miller in recommending that the city proceed only with the headquarters building, putting on hold for now the two parking structures and the Motor Transport Division facility until all the needed land can be acquired. They would like to have the landscaping and other aspects of the remaining project redesigned.

The latest budget increase is not likely to be the last one, the two administrators warned.

The $55 million allocated for the parking structures and motor facility probably will not be enough as costs for materials rise.

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com