Hahn Opposes Plan for LA County to Purchase Downtown Skyscraper and Abandon Civic Center

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn has come out against a plan for the county to purchase the 54-story Gast Company Tower office building located at 555 W 5th street in Downtown Los Angeles and move county employee offices out of the Hall of Administration in the Civic Center.  On Oct. 8 she voted against approving the county’s Notice of Intention to Purchase the property for a purchase price not to exceed $200,000,000. 

Hahn argued against the county abandoning the Civic Center and lamented what would happen if the county chose to shutter buildings around Grand Park rather than retrofitting them and investing in the Civic Center’s future. 

Below is a transcript of her remarks to her colleagues during yesterday’s meeting:

“This is a major purchase and if it goes forward will not only impact thousands and thousands of LA County employees but will fundamentally change how the public views LA County government and where they access help.

If this purchase happened, it would kick off a plan to move County employees and departments out of the Hall of Administration and to this skyscraper — perhaps leaving just this boardroom and a few offices behind.

I understand this is essentially a fire sale and there are some who are going to make the argument that having the County buy this skyscraper makes financial sense. 

I am not so sure about that —  but what I am most worried about is that it doesn’t make sense for our responsibility to our constituents and to the future of this civic center.

I think there is value in a civic center in a city — a singular place where people know to go when they need help from their government. 

And decades ago, the city planners who shaped Downtown Los Angeles thought so too —  with the Hall of Administration sitting across from the Superior Court, up from the Hall of Records, catty corner from the Hall of Justice, with the beautiful Los Angeles City Hall sitting at the base of the hill and the Music Center and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on the top. 

And in the decades in between, we have backed up that vision by investing in Gloria Molina Grand Park and the multi-million dollar renovation of Jerry Moss Plaza outside the Music Center.

I don’t think that LA County should abandon Grand Park and our Civic Center.

I worry what will happen to this center of Downtown between Hill and Broadway if we decide to shutter these County buildings instead of retrofitting them and investing in the future of the civic center.

I know there is a tendency to jump on real estate deals and consolidate as many people into a skyscraper as possible, but I think we have to think bigger and think about the future we want for the Civic Center, for our LA County employees, and for how LA County residents see their government.”