LA County May Purchase Old State Building Site Across From City Hall Hall to Expand Grand Park

The Downtown News reports on a plan for the County of LA to purchase the old State Building site across from City Hall - and adjacent to the Grand Park - to expand the park.

Another option - which might make an expansion of the park more feasible - could be to use part of the site for commercial development, such as a narrow condo tower (which would start the process of building a 24/7 residential community in the Civic Center) along with retail that would be open nights & weekends - to give more life to the area. Then the money from that project could pay for the land and the development of the rest of the site as park space.

And does anyone know where the murals (or any other historic elements) which may have been removed from the old State Building - and the old Hall of Records - are being stored?

‘Graffiti Pit’ Site Could Become a Park

by Ryan Vaillancourt, Staff Writer | Posted: Friday, October 12, 2012 5:30 am

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - The recently opened Spring Street portion of Grand Park infused the Civic Center with sorely needed green space. It gave Downtown residents and workers a place to relax and also delivered a small fenced-in dog run.

The opening of the third and final section of the $56 million park also magnified an adjacent blighted spot known as the graffiti pit. The fenced-in property on the northeast corner of First Street and Broadway has been derelict for decades.

Walking by the site, which contains the remnants of an office building razed after an earthquake 41 years ago, it’s hard not to wonder why it wasn’t folded into the neighboring park. Now, that vision is in the works.

Under pressure from Gov. Jerry Brown to sell off unneeded assets to raise revenue, the Department of General Services is putting the graffiti pit on the market. State officials have notified public entities of their intent to sell the parcel, but are waiting to finish a $600,000 cleanup of the site before it formally considers any offers, said GSA spokesman Michael Liang.

Both city and county officials have signaled interest in the site. If approval is granted from the Board of Supervisors, the county will submit an offer when the property becomes formally available, said David Sommers, a spokesman for County CEO Bill Fujioka.

“The County’s preliminary plan entails incorporating the site into Grand Park,” Sommers said in an email.

(the rest of the story can be read at The Downtown News)