Plans To Demolish, Replace Former LAPD HQ Moving Forward
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Another important step was taken Tuesday towards demolishing and replacing the Parker Center, the former longtime headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Los Angeles City Council's Information, Technology and General Services Committee voted to move forward with a plan to demolish the Parker Center and replace it with an approximately 27-story municipal office building. It's part of a larger redevelopment plan for the Civic Center area.
A report last month from the City Administrative Office found that this plan would cost about $708.9 million. Of that total, $32 million would go towards demolition, which is expected to begin in the fall of 2018 and be complete by the end of 2019.
The projected cost of replacing the Parker Center has continued to rise. In 2015, a report by the city Bureau of Engineering found that tearing it down and replacing it would run around $514 million.
On Saturday, in preparation for the demolition, the massive 36-foot long-by-6-foot tall "Theme Mural of Los Angeles" was transported out of the Parker Center lobby, where it has lived for more than six decades.
The mural was created the same year that the Parker Center was built, 1955. The Parker Center served as LAPD's headquarters until 2009, when the agency moved into its new headquarters about a block away.
In 2015, the L.A. Cultural Heritage Commission recommended that the Parker Center be given historic-cultural status in an effort to delay plans to demolish the building. However, the city council decided against the recommendation.
The building was originally known as the Police Facilities Building. In 1969, it was named after former Chief William H. Parker, who served in the LAPD from 1950 until his death in 1966. Allegations of racial discrimination by police are part of Parker's legacy, which included the 1965 Watts Riots when officers were accused of harassment and abuse against the black community.
Chief Administrative Officer Rich Llewellyn said the city had not yet determined which employees would ultimately move to the new building but that it would help the city sell some buildings it owns or end leases at buildings it is renting while consolidating more workers in the Civic Center.
Last month, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein and his supporters announced an effort to halt the demolition and convert the building into a homeless shelter through a ballot measure. If approved, it's unclear when the ballot measure could come before voters.
The effort to create a city ballot initiative would cost around $100,000 and require about 65,000 signatures from registered voters, Weinstein said.
Both the office of Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilman Jose Huizar declined to comment on the AHF's efforts to save Parker Center when the initiative was announced. Huizar represents the Civic Center area and supported the demolition of Parker Center.
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