Close to home. (Real Estate).

Two mini-districts of the Los Angeles Unified School District have taken steps to move their administrative offices closer to their constituents.

The LAUSD signed one short-term lease deal in downtown and another longer-term lease in the city of Commerce for its District I and District J offices, respectively. Total consideration for the deals, which total 76,000 square feet, is $8.4 million.

District J, which encompasses 38 schools in communities like Huntington Park, South Gate and Lynwood, leased a 23,000 square foot building at 5800 S. Eastern Ave. in Commerce for 10 years. District I, which is made up of 44 schools in the area in and around Watts, has begun negotiations for a long-term home on a property at 103rd Street and Central Avenue. In the meantime, the district took 53,000 square feet at 611 W. 6th St. (formerly known as AT&T Center) in a 30-month deal.

"It may be a property the school leases or purchases", said Trammell Crow Co. Senior Vice President Jonathan Larsen, who, with Lisa St. John, represented LAUSD on both lease deals as well as the property negotiations. Larsen expects to complete either a purchase or a build-to-suit lease deal on the 60,000-square-foot lot, which is owned by AME Church subsidiary Grant Housing Partnership, within the next 18-to-24 months.

In addition to Larsen and St. John, Tom Sheets of Trammell Crow also represented LAUSD on its Commerce deal. Abbey Co.'s Holly Forsythe represented Commerce landlord A.P.-Commerce LLC, while 611 6th St. Associates LLC was represented by Stephen Koile.