DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - Significant attention has been focused on the Los Angeles Police Department in recent weeks. This makes sense, considering the Oct. 24 opening of the new $440 million headquarters building in Downtown, the Oct. 31 departure of Police Chief William Bratton, and the nomination, three days later, of Deputy Chief Charlie Beck as Bratton's replacement.
Amidst the celebrations of careers, transitions and state-of-the-art buildings, one thing has been easy to overlook - the future of Parker Center, which served as the headquarters of the LAPD for 54 years. Although the building is run-down (Bratton joked that it should be blown up), discussion of what comes next should not be placed on the back burner. It is imperative to find a new, active use for the structure or the site.
The current "plan" for Parker Center, and we use that word loosely, is frustrating. Although the new police building broke ground in January 2007, it will still be several years, at least, until a decision is even made about what to do with Parker Center. Perhaps we expect too many things from government, but we think the process should have begun in earnest long ago.
As Los Angeles Downtown News reported recently, the next step is an Environmental Impact Report on the 1955 building. The City Council has set aside $1 million for the study, and it is not expected to be finished until June 2011. Considering the pace of EIRs, or for that matter any planning study the city undertakes, it will not be a surprise if that time frame is pushed.
The EIR would look at five options, including preserving Parker Center and transforming it into another use, and various demolition and rebuilding proposals. Whatever plan is selected at the culmination of the study will not be quick to materialize - the project will likely have to be put out to bid, another usually lengthy process.
Once a plan is selected and construction or demolition begins, expect another couple of years before the project is completed. All told, if one starts with the concept of an EIR completed in 2011, Downtown will be lucky to see the site re-activated by late 2013. Don't be surprised if the usual delays - planning snafus, a search for funds, change orders, etc. - arise and nothing opens until 2015. Or much later.
Granted, this timeline is speculative, but the lack of progress on other major projects and sites in the Civic Center lend credence to the slow outlook and provide a reason why it should not be allowed in the case of Parker Center. As this page has noted before, the Civic Center, which should be one of the jewels of the city, already deals with three black eyes: a vacant, graffiti-scarred plot immediately west of City Hall, the site of a former state office building; the cavernous hole at First Street and Broadway that is supposed to be a new federal courthouse; and the dilapidated Hall of Justice on Temple Street between Broadway and Spring Street, a stately structure which has sat vacant and fenced off since the Northridge earthquake.
The point is, if Parker Center languishes, the Civic Center will have a fourth dead zone, a fourth area where foot traffic dies, a fourth place that sends a message of blight. All of this goes counter to the momentum and positive growth that has occurred in the rest of Downtown Los Angeles.
So what can be done? First, local officials can ensure that the EIR is fast tracked. There must be a way to expedite the mid-2011 completion. We expect that if pressure is applied from the right sources, things might move faster.
Above all, someone needs to step forward and "own" this project. This is a key parcel and it needs a champion, someone who will keep it on the front burner.
We'll hope, perhaps foolishly, that a committed individual will step up and this will happen on a timely schedule. Parker Center is a prime location, and should not be allowed to languish.
