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Wishing for Change in State Office Sale

By Eric Richardson
Published: Monday, March 01, 2010, at 05:48PM
Reagan Building Eric Richardson []

A pair of pedestrians walk along the empty 3rd street face of the Ronald Reagan State Office Building.

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — The State of California put two of its Downtown office buildings up for sale on Friday, part of a portfolio of 11 properties state-wide that it hopes an institution investor will snap up and lease back to it, generating a short-term cash infusion.

The arrangement likely means that operations at the two sites will continue unchanged, but what if a new buyer came in with a chance to revitalize? What could they do to improve the two structures?

From an urban perspective, the state's office buildings fall flat in their interface with the community. They're locked-up towers, inaccessible and inhospitable to passing community members.

The Ronald Reagan building -- occupying the north end of the block bounded by 3rd, Spring and Main -- is a notable offender, given its size. The structure, which contains 850,000 square feet of office space and opened in 1990, has even less of a friendly presence today than it did when it opened. Even then, state workers dubbed the massive building "Fort Ronnie" because of the way it loomed over its surroundings.

Three sides of the structure are closed off, with pedestrian entry to the building restricted to one of two entrances on Spring street. Another Spring entrance and one of Main sit chained off, a byproduct of increased security at government buildings.

The building's 3rd street face contains what could easily be retail spaces. Instead, they're ground-floor offices, blocked off from sidewalk view.

The Junipero Serra building at 320 W. 4th street contains a deli that is open to the public, but most passerbys would never know it. Entrance requires going through the building's lobby -- doors directly onto the sidewalk are sealed off. What should be retail space on Broadway instead houses internal uses. Permanent roll-down gates shield off the windows.

Both buildings sit at sites where their presence could be a force for good. Instead, they've long used security as an excuse to ignore the streets and ignore their places in creating a connective tissue between Downtown neighborhoods.

This state sale is unlikely to change that, but wouldn't it be nice if it did?

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User_32

on March 01, 2010, at 06:16PM – #1

Always remember first seeing the Ronald Reagan State Office Building when I first started visiting artwalk, still living in Orange County, taking the Amtrak to Union Station, and walking from there, passing this building each time. I couldn't wait to move beyond it, to the incredibly fun and interesting buildings up the street. This building seemed so out of place. Great looking lobby though...


Guest 1

Guest on March 01, 2010, at 06:27PM – #2

The atrium between the buildings is where The Roundhouse and Lehman's Garden of Paradise once were located. Now THAT was community - a large beer garden.

There were statues of Adam and Eve and the serpent as well, plus a stage for musicians to play their tunes. The Roundhouse, originally constructed of adobe, was enclosed with wooden walls and turned into a cafe. In the 1880s, it's final use was as a daycare center. Perhaps the grandparnets of John Doe and Exene Cervenka first got together therein, if you know what I mean.


Guest 2

Guest on March 01, 2010, at 09:17PM – #3

I work in the Junipero Serra building 3-4 days a week and the "deli" cafe on the 1st floor is nothing worth visiting. In three years I have eaten there twice! It would be great if the new owners found a new eatery, and it would be even better if they actually opened up the now "rolled-down" gates to some actual businesses. Although it seems the visitors and tenants of both buildings seem to very picky, as they do not seem to support the local eateries around them. A cafe right across the street lasted less than 1 year.


() on March 02, 2010, at 11:32AM – #4

When the State of California received assistance from the CRA to turn the old Broadway Department store into a state office building (while I tried to get MOCA to buy the building for museum space and artist's studios), they were REQUIRED to rent the storefronts along Broadway as... stores.

But after they made no effort to so so, I tried to find tenants for the stores myself, but it was soon made clear to me - that had no intention of renting those spaces - ever - and I gave up.

Then on the weekend when Hahn was moving out of City Hall and the new Mayor was moving in, unmarked trucks pulled up and filled the empty store fronts with office furniture and on Monday morning - behind closed blinds - the state employees reported to work.

Now since that mandate runs with the building - those employees are all in there illegally and they could easily moved into other office buildings and those storefronts could then be re-opened, fixing a major dead spot along Broadway.


User_32

Robyn on March 02, 2010, at 11:38AM – #5

I was convinced that the Ronald Reagan building was the site of fictional Perry Mason's office based on his window view of City Hall and Union Station. But according to other more curious viewers who have uploaded surveys (on another site) - it's not.


User_32

() on March 02, 2010, at 02:36PM – #6

The Reagan Building was actually designed to engage with the street where it's storefronts are located. The simple fix: rent the stores and get some life onto the sidewalk. Even the Main St side has what looks like a retail space to the right of the unused entrance. At the very least that could be used for something.


User_32

Roger Christensen on March 03, 2010, at 09:01AM – #7

Wasn't the Reagan Building originally called the Reagan State Office Building but the name changed when local wags called it the "Reagan S.O.B."? Love hearing that it is the site of the historic Roundhouse.



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