Stuck in the Middle.

County Balks at Moving Youth Jail

JUVENILE delinquents may end up spoiling plans to build a major biotech park next to County-USC Medical Center in Boyle Heights.

A draft feasibility study on the proposed park, commissioned by USC and obtained by the Business Journal, concluded the site would need to be at least 100 acres to create the type of low-rise campus favored by researchers and companies. But for that to happen, the county's Central Juvenile Hall complex -- now situated right in the middle of the envisioned project site -- would have to be moved.

A separate L.A. County draft feasibility study, also obtained by the Business Journal, concluded that the estimated $200. million it would cost to move that jail complex is not feasible, given county budget constraints. Instead, a 30-acre park with high-rise buildings could be successful, the county study found.

It also details the possibility of a 60-acre park, but that would be separated into two parcels, with the juvenile hall sandwiched between them. Both proposals call for the park to be built on what is largely surplus or under-utilized county land.

County Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen, who is overseeing planning for the proposed joint development, said the energy crisis and slowing economy are draining state coffers, so there is simply no local, state or federal money available for relocating the juvenile hall. It's a far different atmosphere than when planning for the park started last fall.

"Clearly, the whole concept of a biotech park is a great concept. The area needs it.... But if the only way to do it is in 100 acres, then there is a problem," Janssen said. "The county can't afford, nor do we have a place, to move juvenile hall."

Senior USC officials are currently in discussions with Janssen to try to come to some agreement before supervisors begin publicly weighing in on the proposal. (Supervisor Gloria Molina, who represents the area and sought the feasibility study out of fear the area may be falling behind in the race to build its biotech industry, deferred comment to Janssen.)

Supporters of USC's vision for a suburban-style campus said anything less than the full 100 acres wouldn't work, especially given that the larger 60-acre park outlined by the county's study would be split by the juvenile facility.

Billionaire businessman Eli Broad, who sits on the board of overseers of USC's Keck School of Medicine, is heading a subcommittee in charge of the project. He said that in order to attract companies to the park, given its location in a gritty urban area, it would have to be large, self-contained, well landscaped and attractive.

"What we are doing is competing with San Diego, Orange County, Silicon Valley, the San Francisco area," he said. "(Biotech companies) have got a choice. They don't have to come here."

Hotel, retail planned

The USC proposal calls for the park to include a hotel and some retail stores to support the needs of the 8,500 or more employees projected to work at the park upon it being fully built-out.

Ahmed Enany, executive director of the Southern California Biomedical Council, an industry trade group, was more blunt.

"Having a juvenile detention facility in the middle of a park is a really big negative. It's unseemly. If you want to do it, do it right," he said.

The proposal for the biotech park originated Out of discussions within the Keck School's board of overseers, which sees the project as a complement to its planned expansion of the medical school following a $110 million donation from the W.M. Keck Foundation two years ago.

Indeed, the university is in the process of acquiring 20 to 30 acres directly north of its 31-acre health sciences campus in Boyle Heights to accommodate up to 1.5 million square feet of new construction for its own needs, with the adjacent biotech park proposed to feature another 2.5 million feet of space.

The existing health science campus includes the USC-University Hospital, the Doheny Eye Institute and Clinic, the Norris Cancer Hospital and other research and clinical facilities the university said would create a "synergy" with the park County-USC Medical Center is also nearby.

The intent of the park is to capture a larger share of what many believe will be a major growth industry over the next decade or two, especially in light of the recent mapping of the human genome.

Los Angeles County as of last year was home to 467 biotech companies employing about 35,000 people, according to USC's study. And Amgen Inc., the industry's largest company, is headquartered just over the county's border in Thousand Oaks.

However, the USC study, conducted by the Sedway Group, also noted that far-smaller Orange County as of last year was home to 337 biotech companies employing about 33,000 people. The two counties having biotech workforces of roughly the same size may seem surprising, considering Los Angeles has such academic powerhouses as UCLA, Caltech and USC.

Proponents of the park see it as playing a critical role in rectifying that incongruence by nurturing university spin-offs that would hopefully stay in the park as they grow. Both studies concluded the project would need subsidies to get started, but that the park would provide substantial regional economic benefits in the long run. USC's estimate runs to $1.3 billion in annual local economic activity.

The university's study contended that most successful biotech parks are at least 100 acres in size. To make its point, it conducted case studies on 11-such parks, including those attached to UC Irvine, Stanford and Princeton.

Urban parks studied

However, the county study, conducted by Ernst & Young, examined urban in-fill parks in places such as Cambridge, Mass.; Chicago; and Evanston, ill. Ill and concluded that far smaller parks can be successful with the right planning.

Jane Pisano, USC's senior vice president of external relations, cautioned that while the two studies appear to be at odds, the university hopes to find common ground with the county, especially after further studying the preferences of researchers and the biotech industry.

However, she acknowledged that the university does have a strong preference for a larger park, and that the county should consider building a new juvenile hall elsewhere, given the age of the existing one - a portion of it dates back to 1912.

"The question is, 'Does it make more sense to build a facility that will meet the needs of that population in another location, or put Band Aids on it,"' Pisano said. "I think everyone understands the current facility is obsolete."

The 420-bed detention complex -- which includes recreational fields, gyms, swimming pools, a chapel and other support facilities -- is one of three juvenile jails in the county. Officials have been seeking state funding to renovate the Boyle Heights facility.

State Sen. Richard Polanco, D-Los Angeles, who represents the area, is seeking $200,000 in the new state budget to further study the proposed biotech park. His office called the request one of his highest priorities, giving it a likelihood of funding.