DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — The LA Times is running a piece today saying that SCI-Arc has lost the legal battle over whether it could buy its building.

At the end of a 50-minute decision that she read from the bench, Bendix ruled that SCI-Arc had never entered into a binding agreement to buy the depot property from owner Dynamic Builders Inc.

Rejecting SCI-Arc's arguments, the judge said a May 2004 proposal to buy the property negotiated by Dynamic officials and Ian Robertson, chairman of the school's board, was more "a deal-points document than a contract."

Bendix ruled that SCI-Arc had never paid a $500,000 deposit and hadn't held a required board meeting to approve the transaction. "I did this with a very heavy heart," she said. "This was difficult to do."

Hopefully some sort of a compromise can be worked out that would allow the property to be developed in such a way that SCI-Arc can stay put. I was over there this past weekend for FAB Market, and the depot really is an amazing building.