CITY OKS BUILDING PURCHASE FIVE-YEAR DELAY ADDS $127 MILLION TO PRICE.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

Staff Writer

Five years after rejecting a plan to buy a downtown office building, the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday approved its purchase for twice as much as the original sales price.

The city will pay $219 million for the 615,000-square-foot building with more than 1,200 parking spaces.

Five years ago, it would have cost the city $92 million; two years ago, it had a chance to pick it up for $125million.

"We should have bought it (before)," said Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who was one of four members who had supported the purchase of the twin-tower Figueroa Plaza. "But we are still doing the right thing now in buying this rather than leasing or losing the property."

It has been a defacto city building for years, with the city spending $8.7 million a year to lease about 300,000 square feet for a number of city agencies including Building and Safety, Transportation, Planning, Cultural Affairs and Bureau of Engineering.

City Administrative Officer Karen Sisson said the purchase will save the city $5 million to $7 million a year if it holds on to the property at First Street and Figueroa Avenue for at least five years.

It is expected the building will be needed for several years.

Councilman Tony Cardenas, who chairs the Information Technology and General Services Committee that oversees such projects, recommended the building's purchase and said the building was extensively reviewed.

Because of concerns the 20-year-old structure might not stand up to modern earthquake standards, Cardenas said a $95,000 study scrutinized building safety.

Cardenas said the council had previously hesitated to buy the property because of questions regarding the conditions of the building and its suitability for long-term use.

But officials assured him the building cost was about one-third of what would be required to build a new structure, and several million dollars cheaper than trying to find new locations for the city agencies.

Also, with Parker Center scheduled to be demolished and other needs of the city, officials said they will be able to use all the space in the towers for city workers.

Councilwoman Jan Perry, however, said she was not abandoning plans to have another city building erected on the Parker Center site. She won council approval for a study for possible uses of the land at First and Los Angeles streets.

Councilwoman Wendy Greuel said the debate showed the need to develop an overall policy on leasing property for city services as opposed to buying property.

She introduced a proposal calling for a study of how much is spent each year on leases.

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