Possibilities Abound, Or do They: Pondering the Future of the RAND Buildings

By Teresa Rochester

Construction has begun on a road that will run through the location of RAND Corporation's current headquarters, but some community leaders believe those buildings should be reused, not destroyed, once the think-tank moves into its new home.

Additional offices for City Hall, affordable housing and artist's lofts are a few of the reuses that have been suggested for the buildings that sit on part of the 11.3 acres that the city purchased for $53 million from the think-tank earlier this year.

As part of the purchase agreement between RAND and the city, the old headquarters -- which is potentially eligible for national, state and local landmark status because of it's historical as well as architectural significance -- must be demolished once employees move into their new building.

"On a sustainability level there's no reason why the existing buildings' lives shouldn't continue," said architect and former Planning Commissioner Ralph Mechur. "Can it serve another function? Is it structurally viable to reuse? I think there are some possible uses that would be beneficial to the community."

With the final Environmental Impact Report for RAND's new headquarters and subsequent hearings before the Planning Commission and City Council still several months away, Mechur cautioned that it is too early to push for reuse.

However, City Council candidate Donna Block and James Mount, an architect who sits on the board of Community Corporation, have envisioned some possible uses for the low-rise buildings. (The main tower was built in 1961 and is not deemed a potentially historic structure.)

"I would like to see the building preserved. I'd like to see it redeveloped as artists lofts and affordable housing," said Block, a practicing artist and former vice president of Mid City Neighbors. "There's a need for artists to have affordable live-work space. It would be a perfect place and it would be a commitment to the arts."

Block added that since May the number of artist's live-work space has decreased by 50 percent since May and that in the last 60 days the number of spaces has plummeted from 156 to 78.

"I don't see any reason why they can't covert it to housing," Block said. "If they [city officials] talk about no parking, they can go underground with a park on top. I don't see any reason why the building can't be preserved and turned into housing."

Mount, who sits on the board of the city's largest public housing provider, said the building would work well for additional offices for City Hall or for housing. "There's no room to do anything over there," Mount said about City Hall, which suffers from a perpetual space crunch.

Mount added that he would volunteer to study the two-building campus for reuse.

"My interest would be, if this thing gets warm enough, I'd be perfectly willing to analyze options of alternative use," Mount said.

City officials, however, say the chances of reusing the buildings built during the mid-1950's are slim. Not only are they scheduled to be demolished, but keeping the buildings would conflict with the Civic Center Specific Plan, a project the city has been working on for more than a decade.

"I think the city would have been interested in looking at some alternative use, but the agreement that we hammered together with RAND requires that those buildings be demolished," said Mayor Ken Genser.

The city has not looked at reuse as a possibility, Deputy Planner Andy Agle said. Agle pointed out that construction has begun on Olympic Drive, a street that will connect Ocean Avenue with Main Street and lead to the new Public Safety Building also currently under construction. The street is set to run through the site of RAND's current headquarters.

"It would definitely be in conflict with a lot of the important goals of the Civic Center Specific Plan," said Agle.

The plan -- born out numerous community and committee meetings over the course of five years -- calls for the area bordered by the Santa Monica Freeway to the north, Pico Boulevard to the south, Fourth Street on the east and Ocean Avenue on the west, to become a central hub in the city, complete with shaded walkways, parks, shops, a viewing tower and affordable housing.

Agle said the sprawling nature of the RAND buildings would not allow for a lot of the pedestrian pathways to be built.

City officials also question the efficiency of keeping the cold-war era buildings and reusing them. The presence of lead paint and asbestos (which will be removed before the buildings are demolished) may prove too costly and problematic if the buildings were used for housing, said Joan Ling, director of Community Corp.

Ling said the configuration of the buildings does not lend itself to be used for housing.

"I think the city has its grand plan to use that for open space and affordable housing," said Ling. "The low-slung international style are not very efficient for land use. If you save those buildings, what else could be put there?"