THERE. The county plans to pay more to improve the gas company tower than to buy the city center skyscraper in the first place.
County officials agreed last November to pay $ 200 million for the 52 -story tower, which they planned to make the new head office for county employees.
The price estimated at the Tour to the test of earthquakes: more than $ 230 million. Lennie Laguire, spokesperson for the County Manager office, said the tower was already safe and upgrades are “proactive”.
County officials said that certain improvements in the tower may be necessary, but that the cost and extent had been troubled so far.
This week, the county received the final proposals of companies that seek to obtain a contract for “voluntary seismic improvements” at the Tower of the Gas Company, located at 555 W. 5th Street.
The director general, who negotiated the purchase, stressed in a statement that seismic work was expected and much cheaper than the billion dollars estimated that it would be necessary to renovate the current seat of the city center, the Kenneth Hahn of administration, which was built in 1960 and is vulnerable to collapse during the next major earthquake.
The tower of the gas company “does not require any seismic work to provide a safe, code and modern workplace for county employees. The county chooses to do this work proactively with an eye towards the future, in order to ensure that the building works optimally in the decades to come, “said Laguire. “The cost of this work, even combined with the cost of the building, is a fraction of the cost of carrying out seismic improvements and safety of security and safety of security.”
THE Sale of $ 200 million was considered a good deal compared to the valuable value of the building of more than $ 600 million a few years earlier – a symptom of falling the values of the downtown office.
The Janice Hahn supervisor, the only member of the board of directors purchasesaid on Friday that county officials should never have concluded the real estate transaction before they “have all the facts” on the cost.
“It turns out to be a bigger boondoggy than what was originally sold to the public,” said Hahn, who said that she had not been informed of upgrading costs. “I am only more convinced that we are better at modernizing the historic administration room and keeping the heart of the county government in our civic center.”
At the time of sale, Hahn argued that the purchase would be a fatal blow for the civic heart of the city center and would make Kenneth Hahn Haln of obsolete administration. The building bears the name of his father, which served a record of 10 mandates as a supervisor.
The Hall of Administration is one of Several properties belonging to the county Considered vulnerable in an earthquake. The tower of the gas company, built in 1991, was considered much safer, but when the county is purchased, it was not clear if it was entirely resistant to earthquakes.
The tower is one of the many skyscrapers that incorporate a “Steel moment ”as part of its structure. In 1994 Terk Trendment of NorthridgeBuildings with the frame did not collapse, but some were seriously damaged.
The majority of the seismic strengthening of the gas company tower would imply “the strengthening of tight -in -year -old steel frame connections”, according to the proposal for the proposal of the 234.5 million dollars project.
The contract will be awarded in October, according to tender documents, and the tower could be occupied during construction. Comté officials said they had already started to move employees in the tower.
The Roger Vincent and Rong-Gong Lin II staff editors contributed to this report.
