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Council hears timeline, costs and Olympic planning for downtown development project
Summary
Councilmembers pressed city staff about costs, schedule and coordination with LA28 for a downtown development project; staff said $54 million has been spent to date, value engineering trimmed about $124 million from an earlier $1.7 billion estimate, and a final CAO recommendation is expected by month-end.
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday heard detailed questions about the costs, schedule and Olympic-readiness of a major downtown development project as staff briefed members before a vote on related approvals.
Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson (council president) opened consideration of the item after members called it for comment; Councilmember Marqueece Jurado said the project “brings new homes to South Park” and highlighted public benefits directed in part to the CD14 Public Benefits Trust Fund. Jurado said the benefits could include affordable housing, small business support, public safety strategies and arts investments.
Councilmembers pressed city financial staff and consultants on costs and timelines. “So at this point, we spent about 54, $54,000,000,” a CAO staff member told the council when asked how much the city has already expended under early-works and negotiating agreements. Gary Lee Moore, identified in the meeting as a consultant to the CAO’s office and project executive, said value-engineering work identified roughly $124,000,000 in reductions compared with an earlier February estimate of about $1,700,000,000.
City staff described continuing work to align the project schedule with LA28, the organizer of the 2028 Olympic Games. Staff said the city and LA28 are still negotiating the needs LA28 will have for parts of the building and that construction sequencing may require pausing work to allow LA28 to use the facility for the Games and then resume post-Games completion.
“Once we start construction, there are gonna be changes to the building,” a CAO staff member said, adding the goal is to make the building “Olympics ready” so construction can pause for the Games and then be finalized afterwards. The CAO’s office told the council that if the council moves forward it would likely issue debt for the project’s full cost.
Council members also raised utility and power questions. Staff said the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has flagged concerns about electrical service upgrades and relocations; the city planned a three-hour technical workshop with LADWP leadership, the Bureau of Engineering and the developer to review requirements and contingency plans for relocations.
On schedule, staff described a truncated timeline: commercial close (when the project agreement would be signed) was discussed as a mid-September milestone in earlier planning, and staff said they had just received a committed proposal and were reviewing it. The CAO’s office said it expects to submit a final recommendation to council at the end of the month, to then proceed through committee and council consideration.
Council members voted to approve the item as presented; the roll call on this agenda item showed 14 ayes.
The Council’s questions focused on cost containment, contingency plans if utility relocations cannot be completed before the Games, and whether the alterations identified in value engineering would affect LA28’s preexisting space needs. Staff said they will include those considerations in the final recommendation to council.
The council’s action moves the project closer to commercial close and authorizes staff to continue negotiations and finalize recommendations for the council’s later votes.
