Could Popular Center Sale Halt Redevelopment Agency Move?
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
The Community Redevelopment Agency occupies six stories in the 1902 Popular Center, but plans to move to City West.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Would the Community Redevelopment Agency's plan to move its central office out of the Historic Core be altered if a new owner took over the building it has occupied since 1980?
The CRA board approved the move last Thursday, but not before Allen Gross of Neighborhood Efforts appeared to tell the body that he has agreed to purchase the Popular Center, located at 354 S. Spring, but will only be able to move forward if he can convince the agency to stay.
In its report to the board, the CRA gave a laundry list of faults found in the 1902 structure. The air conditioning and heat are faulty, the elevators have a habit of stopping not quite at a floor, and the poor state of the floors is leading to workers' compensation claims.
Gross said Sunday that all of these are things that could be remedied. "That would be incorporated in the tenant improvements," he said. Gross wants to lower the agency's rent, undercutting what it would spend in its proposed home in City West's Garland Center.
Even that may not be enough to make the deal happen. Gross said that CRA interim CEO Calvin Hollis told him on Thursday that arrangements were too far along to change. One rumor is that the Garland Center move is being pushed as part of a plan to eventually combine the CRA with either the Housing Department or the Community Development Department, both of which are located in the building at 1200 W. 7th. Both, though, are slated to move to the City's Figueroa Plaza complex, in 2013 and 2023 respectively.
If the CRA does go through with its move, Neighborhood Efforts will likely back out of its plan to purchase the structure. CRA occupies six floors in the building, and its departure would leave it almost empty above the ground floor. "Once a building goes vacant, it's really hard to rehab it and bring it back online," said Gross.
Neighborhood Efforts is currently finishing up construction on the Blackstone apartment building, at 9th and Broadway. The company acquires and restores historic buildings.
BaddicusFinch on December 21, 2009, at 11:42AM – #1
Does Banco Popular have any downtown branches anymore? They seem to have a lot of new locations popping up in other LA County cities.
Tornadoes28 on December 21, 2009, at 01:29PM – #2
I don't see why it should.
Ginny Brideau on December 21, 2009, at 02:32PM – #3
Banco Popular has a branch on 6th street between Grand and Hill.
David on December 21, 2009, at 03:03PM – #4
Jamison Properties are horrednous landlords. They are the kind of landlords that remove lightbulbs in corridors to save money. I hope the CRA moves so to help get the message you can't be a landlord that does little maintenance and expect that tenantds will stay.
Aaron on December 21, 2009, at 04:34PM – #5
Gosh, between Barry Shy, Jamison Properties, Michael Delijani and the Federal/State governments, we have a whole city's worth of landlords who don't give a crap about their properties, right here in the heart of Downtown!
Tyler Murphy on December 21, 2009, at 08:41PM – #6
Allen Gross of Neighborhood Effort in an excellent owner/developer and his purchase of the building could be a win/win situation for both the CRA and the downtown community. If he can mitigate all the reasons why the CRA were planning to relocate, the agency should not move. Why would the "Community Redevelopment Agency" leave the same community we have all worked hard to redevelop? A 100,000 sf office user supports a lot of the local shops and restaurants. Also, as stated, once a building goes vacant, it is very hard to bring it back online. Not to mention the agency will be paying by my count a minimum $50,000 more in rent per month. This is not a move or decision that needs to be made immediately. The CRA theoretically has another 1 1/2 years to make a decision. Also, the deal at the Garland building isn't going anywhere as it currently has close to 300,000 sf of available space.
Allen Gross plans to renovate and redevelop the building along with placing it on the National Register as a Federal Monument. It is my belief the CRA should take a closer look at working a new Lease with Allen Gross and see if all of their existing issues cannot be mitigated. In my opinion if the CRA moves it is a loss for all in historic downtown.
Vero Queero on December 22, 2009, at 09:48PM – #7
Is it really so horrible to be located in City West?
Brady Westwater on December 23, 2009, at 06:33PM – #8
Right now, the CRA is within walking distance of City Hall and easily accessilbe to Planning, Building & Safety and most other city departments by foot or by DASH. And sticking Housing and Economic Development in the middle of nowhere has been a logistical nightmare for many in those departments. Everyone they need to see or talk with - is in the Civic Center.
And with all the new found interest in... economic development... it is critical for the city to bring that agency back to the Civic Center. Whoever runs that department has to be able to physically get in front of the people he needs to energize to get his new job done.
And - hopefully - he or she is telling the Mayor that right now.
Ed Rosenthal on December 28, 2009, at 07:02PM – #9
I think it would be very beneficial for the neighborhood for Neighborhood Effort to purchase the Banco Popular Building. The name speaks for itself. Truthfully in this case. Neighborhood Effort is know as an improving landlord and this would kill three birds with one stone. Getting a good landlord, getting rid of a bad one, and keeping an important agency in our area. Unfortunately these types of considerations carry very little weight in our landowning system of private property. As a broker working in the area, I would like to ask people not to paint with such a broad stroke the types of non caring landlords which we have. In that category, there are public entities, which care not for what happens on the street, private landlords that don't care what happens to their buildings for ill or good, and private landlords who do nothing, good or ill to the property. Poetbroker