Ground-Floor Retail May Be Required at Telecom Sites.

With more and more downtown office buildings overflowing with telecom equipment, L.A. city officials and business leaders have hashed out a plan to encourage more street-level shops and offices.

Currently, telecom firms don't need city approval to completely fill buildings with heavy switching equipment and essentially close them off to public access.

"The fear of everyone involved -- including the telecom users, by the way -- is that no one wants to see an entire block in L.A. go 'dark,"' said Deputy Mayor Rocky Delgadillo. "There will be some kind of process... and the government will be involved.. Most of what the private sector wants is some sense of certainty."

Delgadillo declined to provide details about the proposal until it is unveiled next week, However, he said it would give city officials oversight over office building conversions to telecom use.

The trend to go telecom has created a new use for a number of empty, decrepit buildings, and in the process assured their preservation and lifted their property value. At the same time, however, it has alarmed some downtown business people and preservationists.

"The telecom companies have been a blessing for downtown," said Ken Bernstein, director of preservation issues for the Los Angeles Conservancy. "They are also laying the groundwork that will attract multimedia. However, we have been concerned by the growing scale of this activity, where telecom switching equipment has taken up entire blocks. It begins to suck the vitality from the streets."

At least 17 downtown buildings have been converted to telecom uses, encompassing more than 3.4 million square feet, according to the Central City Association.

Some owners have already incorporated ground-floor retail and design work into their plans, said Carol Schatz, president and chief executive of the Central City Association, who has called the owners of many buildings to make them aware of the issue.

"Most of the time we're getting back that they have plans to preserve (the ground-floor space) anyway," Schatz said.

As an example of a balanced project, Delgadillo cited plans to transform the old postal Terminal Annex on Olvera Street into Infomart-Los Angeles. Part of the project calls for telecom equipment space. However, it also includes outdoor landscaping, ground-floor retail and service uses, and a mix of high-tech tenants that would bring more employees and activity to the area than a building used only to house equipment.

"There are other telecom developers that have that kind of vision," Delgadillo said.

Delgadillo's office worked out the policy with Mayor Richard Riordan, Councilwoman Rita Walters, and representatives of downtown interests including major property owners and the Central City Association.

Recent developments added intensity to the discussions.

A recent L.A. Conservancy study raised concerns that efforts to revitalize downtown with more housing might be hampered if "dark" telecom-use buildings get in the way of achieving a "critical mass" of residential activity.