A $2.7 million park might go in its place
Officials here are expected to spend $2.7 million to tear down the old police building and replace it with a landscaped courtyard.
The City Council last week voted unanimously to spend $51,260 to have plans drafted for the demolition and the construction of a landscaped park. The total cost of the project was estimated to be $2.7 million, according to City Hall documents.
When the $70-plus million Public Safety Facility was completed earlier this year, several different options were floated for the old police building. Some suggested it could be used by City Hall staffers who currently work in rented offices elsewhere. Others said it could be used to house homeless people. Still others said it was unsafe and should be torn down.
City Hall currently pays $1.5 million to lease 40,000 square feet of space in various locations throughout Santa Monica. The old building could provide about 28,700 square feet of office space if remodeled, a job estimated to take 22 months, according to City Hall documents.
In recommending demolition, Assistant City Manager Gordon Anderson pointed out that bringing the old building up to code would cost about $9.6 million and. If it would be used to house city workers, it would only save City Hall about $1 million in annual lease payments, Anderson said.
What’s more, the old police building was built as an afterthought to the original historic City Hall building, which was dedicated in 1939. It closes off the east end of a courtyard that was meant to be open, according to City Hall documents, which explains that while the main building is considered historically valuable, the later additions are not.
Additionally, fixing up the old building would take money away from a much-needed seismic retrofit of the main City Hall building, a project estimated to cost $2.5 million that has been put off because of the uncertainties surrounding the old building and a lack of funding.
Anderson said staffers recommended demolition because the redevelopment plan governing the area calls for open space there.
“That building is thrashed.” — — KEVIN MCKEOWN City Councilman
“The Civic Center Plan, which was developed through an 18-month community process, calls for the demolition of the former police wing in order to allow for the eventual restoration of City Hall and the creation of an important visual and public relationship between City Hall, the Public Safety Building and the proposed Civic Center Parking Structure,” reads his report.
The two-story building with a jail in the basement was added on to the U-shaped City Hall in 1958 for the expanding police department. But over the years it too became crammed, most recently wedging close to 300 workers into an aging space intended for 125, SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega said. Another 100 city workers worked in satellite offices throughout the city.
6B6,“It was just overcrowded,” Fabrega said. “The building was old. It didn’t meet standards of the (American Disabilities Act). There were no public restrooms in it, no elevators. It was just not a community friendly type facility.”
“The building was old. It didn’t meet standards of the (American Disabilities Act).” — — LT. FRANK FABREGA SMPD spokesman
Though police and fire staffers have made the move over to the new facility, prisoners have yet to be transferred. Fabrega said they won’t take up new residence at the Public Safety Facility until sometime in the middle of next month.
The new jail is slightly smaller than the current one, but designed to be more efficient for processing and transferring prisoners to county facilities. The current jail holds 112 male and 21 female prisoners. The new jail has 96 beds and 55 cells. There also are five temporary holding cells, as opposed to one at the old jail, and three interview rooms, as opposed to none.
Santa Monica’s jail serves as a temporary holding facility and prisoners stay between 24 and 72 hours, depending on their initial court appearance. They are then released or sent to county jail.
Before demolition can begin, the Landmarks Commission will need to review the plans drawn up by contractors. If they are approved, the City Council must then designate funding. A total of $4.6 million is available for the project and for retrofitting City Hall.
City Councilman Kevin McKeown said he was contacted by several members of the community eager to see the old building put to use. So McKeown said he decided to take a look for himself and walked through the now-vacant structure. What he saw spoke for itself.
“That building is thrashed,” McKeown said before the vote.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 23, 2003. Read the original PDF.