Three months after completing the demolition of Parker Center, the City of Los Angeles has taken a key step towards constructing an office tower in its place.
Last week, the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering announced its recommended short list of respondents for the $700-million Los Angeles Street Civic Building project. The three short-listed teams are:
DTLA Civic Partners, LLC
- Equity Members: Meridiam and Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate
- Lead Contractor: Clark Construction
- Lead Designer: SOM
- Lead Operations & Management Provider: ENGIE Services Inc.
LAC 3 Partners
- Equity Members: Macquarie Financial Holdings and JLC Infrastructure
- Lead Contractor: Hensel Phelps Construction
- Lead Designer: Morphosis
- Lead Operations & Management Provider: Honeywell International
Plenary Collaborative Los Angeles
- Equity Members: Plenary Group
- Lead Contractor: Webcor Construction
- Lead Designer: Smith Group and Renzo Piano Building Workshop
- Lead Operations & Management Provider: Johnson Controls
“The Bureau of Engineering is extremely pleased with each of the three teams recommended to proceed to the RFP phase in the Los Angeles Street Civic Building Project, an important step in revitalizing our city’s Civic Center,” said Gary Lee Moore, City Engineer. “Each firm brings a depth and breadth of experience and expertise, which ensures that the City will have the best team working on this exciting new project.”
The various members of the three teams all have experience with large scale public sector projects in Southern California. Plenary Group, Edgemoor, Clark and SOM have recently worked together on the redevelopment of the Long Beach Civic Center, while Morphosis designed the Caltrans District 7 Headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles, and Johnson Controls is part of the team that is building the LAX automated people mover.
The recommended short list is subject to approval by the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, and a request for proposals must be presented to the Los Angeles City Council prior to issuance.
The new office tower is expected to provide approximately 750,000 square feet of space for 3,200 city employees, in addition to a conference center, a childcare facility, street-fronting retail space, and 1,173 subterranean parking spaces. Additionally, the project is expected to include outdoor open space, pedestrian links to the Little Tokyo neighborhood, and public displays regarding the history of the former LAPD headquarters Parker Center.
Plans call for a building up to 27 stories in height - or approximately 450 feet - roughly the same size as Los Angeles City Hall. Construction could begin as early as 2020 and conclude by 2023.
The new tower may be the first step in a dramatic makeover of the Civic Center, as called for in a master plan adopted by the City of Los Angeles in 2017. If fully realized, the master plan could result in a number of aging city office buildings being redeveloped with new facilities - including housing and retail space.
- Parker Center (Urbanize LA)
