Fitting In New
LA Police building has some impressive neighbors

By Greg Aragon

The Los Angeles Police Department’s new $300 million headquarters in downtown
is trying to fit in.

The 500,000-sq-ft structure not only will add much-needed space, but it will blend in with neighboring icons such as City Hall, the Los Angeles Times building and St. Vibiana’s Cathedral.

Located on a block bordered by First, Second, Spring and Main streets, on the site of a former Caltrans building, the project broke ground in November 2006.

When finished in June 2009, the headquarters will replace the earthquake-damaged circa-1955 Parker Center, located a block north of the current site. Parker Center is still currently serving as police headquarters and officials have not decided what to do with the building after the new facility opens.

“This is an important building for Los Angeles and the LAPD,” says Paul Danna, principal of Los Angeles-based DMJM Design, the project’s architect along with Denver-based Roth Sheppard.. “The building must provide a balanced response to a number of contextual forces – the city’s civic center buildings, the Times building, the new Caltrans building, the historic core – and at the same time represent the police force as it redefines itself for the future.”

Building downtown has meant access problems, says Ghassan Ariqat, project manager for general contractor Tutor Saliba Corp. of Sylmar. “We are taking an entire city block, so we are in the spotlight and we have to pre-plan everything very well.”.

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The project consists of an L-shaped, 11-story tower jetting through an underground parking garage with approximately 500 spaces.

Ariqat says planning was particularly tricky when crews wanted to begin erecting structural steel for the tower, and had to first build a portion of the underground garage to use as a platform for cranes. He adds that the garage’s roof, which is also a street level plaza, had to be carefully shored to support heavy equipment and deliveries.

“Logistically, we could not just do the parking and then build the tower because the tower is lower than the parking at that location,” he says. 

Because the full site has parking underneath, some of the deliveries had to be staged on top of the future parking garages, “which means we had to install reshoring to strengthen the ceilings of those parking areas,” says Bill Lacher, senior construction manager for Vanir Construction Management of Los Angeles, which is serving as construction manager along with Irvine-based gkkworks.

Instead of creating a boxy-shaped building to face City Hall, DMJM has incorporated a narrow, triangular facade on the headquarters’ north tip to create an open-feel between it and neighboring buildings.

“The project features a variety of open spaces and the building’s shape and orientation provides light, air and optimal sight lines for the building and its neighbors,” Danna says.

Headquarters highlights will include office spaces for more than 2,100 police personnel, a Police Commission hearing room, 200-seat cafe and 450-seat auditorium, carwash and gas station for about 1,200 vehicles, helipad, locker facilities and approximately 140 new trees planted around the perimeter of the site.

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