Historic L.A. hotel's got class.Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. first eyed the abandoned Ambassador Hotel as a fine place to locate a school back in 1989. Today the project temporarily known as Heritage K-12 Option bears a tentative start date of 2006. "Few sites we buy come unencumbered," admits Edwin Van Ginkel, senior development manager for new construction at LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) . "But this is the first property with significant cultural issues to navigate. Emotions play high." Among other things, it was the place where Senator Robert E Kennedy was assassinated as·sas·si·nate tr.v. as·sas·si·nat·ed, as·sas·si·nat·ing, as·sas·si·nates 1. To murder (a prominent person) by surprise attack, as for political reasons. 2. . In Round I, the school district tried to use its power of eminent domain eminent domain, the right of a government to force the owner of private property sell it if it is needed for a public use. The right is based on the doctrine that a sovereign state has dominion over all lands and buildings within its borders, which has its origins in to condemn the historic property. Property owners battled, while spending the district's $48 million good-faith deposit to pay down debt. After two years, LAUSD stepped out of the deal--and then the tables turned Tables Turned is a music licensing and broadcasting company launched at the College Music Journal's 2005 Music Marathon conference. It exists to help independent artists find new forms of revenue from their music in addition to record sales. . The declining real estate market prompted the owners to beg for condemnation. That torched an eight-year battle in which the district tried to get its money back and stave off the Los Angeles Conservancy The Los Angeles Conservancy is the preeminent historic preservation organization in Los Angeles, California. It works to document, rescue and revitalize historic buildings, places and neighborhoods in the city. preservation group, which sued LAUSD to stop any future razing The story ends happily, sort of: By 2001, the conservancy preferred for the school district to hold the title over demolishment-minded bidders like Donald Trump anda local housing developer. "The conservancy felt we'd listen more thoughtfully to their appeals," Van Ginkel reports. Indeed, the district agreed to a compromise. The hotel's famous Coconut Grove nightclub, once home to the Oscars, will become the school auditorium. The coffee shop built by locally noted architect Paul Revere Revere, city (1990 pop. 42,786), Suffolk co., E Mass., a residential suburb of Boston, on Massachusetts Bay; settled c.1630, set off from Chelsea and named for Paul Revere 1871, inc. as a city 1914. Williams will be a teacher's lounge. And the shopping promenade will live on--as storefront facades within the cafeteria. Van Ginkel says the district is consulting a panel of presidential and U.S. history experts to deal respectfully with the assassination Assassination See also Murder. assassins Fanatical Moslem sect that smoked hashish and murdered Crusaders (11th—12th centuries). [Islamic Hist.: Brewer Note-Book, 52] Brutus conspirator and assassin of Julius Caesar. [Br. location. Currently, it's unprogrammed space. In all, negotiations have added $15 million to the bill--but that's better than socking $100,000 million extra into keeping the bedrooms, too, in Van Ginkel's book. As of late November 2004, the conservancy disagreed, slapping yet another lawsuit into the fray over the fate of that main building. "This is a classic example of two very important public policy issues conflicting," Van Ginkel points out. More than 4,000 students live within nine blocks of the hotel; duplicating the 23 acres would mean plowing over hundreds of apartment buildings and businesses. "So yes, the cost is great in terms of cultural impact," he says. "But the cost of choosing another school site in this area would be even greater." |
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