Redevelopment may be less of an uphill battle if Angel's Flight is completed early; funicular railway is being touted by some city officials.

Redevelopment may be less of an uphill battle if Angel's Flight is completed early

Angel's Flight, the historic funicular railway dismantled in 1969 to make way for urban renewal in downtown Los Angeles, may be resurrected sooner than expected.

The Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency has hired an outside consultant to study the feasibility of getting the new trolley system built by 1993, more than two years ahead of schedule.

"We've had an agreement with Bunker Hill Associates for 10 years and this is the first mention of building Angel's Flight out of sequence," said Jeffrey Skorneck, the CRA's project manager. "We're looking at what the implications and costs of that would be."

One implication would be that the new trolley would probably have to be dismantled temporarily in early 1995 while Bunker Hill Associates builds the third phase of its $1 billion California Plaza project.

Current plans call for Cal Plaza's third phase and the funicular to be built simultaneously and share a common foundation. But some city officials don't want to wait.

"The people of Los Angeles were promised more than 20 years ago, when Angel's Flight was first dismantled, that it would be rebuilt," said CRA Commissioner Dennis Luna. "We've waited long enough."

City officials, led by Luna, are insisting the new Angel's Flight could bolster much-needed redevelopment efforts in downtown's "historic core" by linking that area with downtown's bustling Bunker Hill section.

Bunker Hill office workers could use Angel's Flight for lunchtime excursions to the historic core's numerous retail establishments along Hill Street and Broadway, city officials pointed out.

Also, Angel's Flight would provide a lift for workers traveling between Bunker Hill office towers and the new Metro Rail substation, which is slated to open in 1993 at the corner of Fourth and Hill streets.

"The Fourth-and-Hill Metro station is going to be where the Red Line and Blue Line connect; it's going to be a very active corner," Skorneck said. "Office workers would find Angel's Flight an attractive way to get up the hill, rather than trudging."

Under current plans, Metro Rail passengers would be "trudging" up the hill for at least two years before the new funicular opened.

The outside consultant is expected to present its findings in about 90 days on the estimated costs and benefits of speeding up construction of Angel's Flight.

Nyal Leslie, president of Metropolitan Structures, the general partner of Bunker Hill Associates, said his company has not yet been notified about any of the consultant's findings or possible recommendations. "I'm not sure it would be cost effective to construct that (Angel's Flight) ahead of time," Leslie said.

Under the current plan, the new funicular would cost the CRA about $2.5 million to construct. Bunker Hill Associates would be responsible for building the funicular's foundation and operating it upon completion.

Leslie said a scale model of Cal Plaza's third phase, including the new funicular, will be done in about two weeks.

The length and grade of the new trolley system will be identical to the original, rising some 90 feet along 329 feet of track between Hill and Olive streets. Its cars will be metal rather than wood, however, due to safety considerations.

Meanwhile, the original wooden cars remain in a South Central L.A. warehouse, gathering dust. Current plans call for them to eventually be spiffed up and installed in a new Angel's Flight museum adjacent to the new funicular.

PHOTO : The old Angel's Flight: Its wood cars are now in a South Central L.A. warehouse