LULA WASHINGTON DANCE THEATRE REBUILDS IN MIDST OF BATTLE.

After seven years of working out of temporary digs, Lula Washington Dance Theatre has a permanent home and plans to move in by year's end. This summer, the twenty-one-year-old modern dance troupe closed escrow on a 12,000-square-foot building on South Crenshaw Boulevard in the heart of Los Angeles's African American community. The company secured the site for $1.3 million, beating out several commercial developers in an intense bidding war for the prime spot on what executive director Erwin Washington calls "the Broadway of South Central L.A." Once heavily damaged by the civil unrest of 1992, the area is now a thriving hub of activity. "It is a major plus for any arts group to have a presence on this street," says Washington.

The move, according to Washington, is an important step in regaining the stability LWDT lost when its former dance studio was destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Since that time, the company, which also maintains a school and an active youth program, has been forced to handle its administrative affairs out of the choreographer's home and pay soaring rental rates for much smaller studio space.

Once renovations are complete, the new building will host four spacious dance studios as well as office and storage space. LWDT purchased the Crenshaw Boulevard site with $950,000 in funds initially earmarked for rebuilding its previous home, which has been held up in a bureaucratic tangle since 1998 by the city's Community Redevelopment Agency, whose function is to assist neighborhoods facing economic or physical deterioration.

The CRA and the city of Los Angeles are both defendants in an ongoing lawsuit filed by LWDT that alleges that the dance company's efforts to rebuild after the earthquake were blocked in an attempt to seize the property by right of eminent domain for a planned retail development. To date, the city's repeated attempts to have the case dismissed have failed. An upcoming heating will determine whether LWDT exhausted all possible administrative remedies before filing the suit, which Washington considers a tacit admittance of guilt: "They're not denying the charges, they're, debating a technicality."

Assistant City Attorney Dov Lesel would not comment on the status of the case but conceded that LWDT is considered by the mayor's office, City Council, and CRA to be "an important part of the Los Angeles landscape. Our view is not limited to the litigation," he said. "Notwithstanding the fact they sued us, we still hope to assist the company in their goals."

But now LWDT is in a position to advance artistically even in the midst of the legal wrangling. The company has two years to repay the mortgage on the balance of the purchase price, but the priority at press time was to raise an estimated $250,000 for renovations needed before the company can move in. Washington's real estate agent started the process by donating half of the commission she made on the sale. Shortly after LWDT took possession of the building, the Northrop Grumman Corporation, an aerospace and defense company and regular contributor to LWDT, gave $10,000. And the dance company is already looking ahead. After the mortgage is paid off and the lawsuit resolved, it plans on expanding its new home by adding a performance space and studio space for other community arts groups.