Long Beach Courthouse
Here is an excerpt of a news release from the Office of City Manager that got my attention. First because of an apparent land exchange between the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency and the State of California. Wow, pretty cool! I guess it must be nice to have friends in high places.
From what the executive director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency has to say about it I feel that this must be good news for all of us who reside in Long Beach. Keep in mind however that I know nothing about the land swap, costs, or anything. This is the first time that I have become aware of this, but it does sound good upfront.
"This approval is a major milestone not only toward breaking ground on the new courthouse, but also for the continued revitalization of our Downtown," said Craig Beck, Executive Director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency. "The courthouse will be a new civic landmark that will be designed to reflect the unique characteristics of the surrounding Long Beach community, and we're thrilled to see it moving forward." (emphasis mine)
I wanted to get an image of our current courthouse and instead found an article by the Press-Telegram that one, has an photo and two, the write up is the background of the story so I will just post the link to that article at the bottom.
What I did especially like, is this little section of the article:
The proposed courthouse, which is expected to house 800 workers and attract 3,500 to 4,500 visitors daily, would consist of a 545,000-square-foot building with 31 civil and criminal courtrooms, 63,000 square feet of county office space, 9,200 square feet of retail space and a basement that will include a sally port or controlled-entry space and an in-custody holding facility. This courthouse will replace the aging, crowded 1960s facility on Ocean.
Sounds to me like a tall order numbers wise, although I do not know what the numbers of the current courthouse are, but, combined with the statements of the executive director that the new courthouse "will be a new civic landmark that will be designed to reflect the unique characteristics of the surrounding Long Beach community" the whole plan sounds grand.
I really am looking forward to keeping up with this project because I'm sure there is way more than meets the eye. The deals of the arrangement, as of the 09/01/09 publishing date of the Press-Telegram article seem peculiar to me. Especially when it comes to the part about the RDA paying the state 5mil. over some amount of years to cover some land cost differences but the state is getting land that is valued at 24.2mil, while the RDA is getting is valued at 18.9mil. So the RDA is buying the land from the state and giving them (the state) the land that the current courthouse resides (valued at 5.3mil more than what the RDA is getting) plus needing to pay 5mil. to complete the deal.
If it works out this way maybe the deal isn't so bad if it works out that we, the citizens of Long Beach get: a court house that will reflect our community, the continued redevelopment of our downtown and support the numbers proposed then let's see it to fruition.
Official Release:
From the Office of the City Manager
News Release
The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (RDA) announced today that the State Public Works Board has approved the land exchange agreement between the RDA and the State of California, for the development of the new Long Beach Courthouse. The state's Public Works Board met on October 12, 2009 in the State Capitol and approved the acquisition.
"This approval is a major milestone not only toward breaking ground on the new courthouse, but also for the continued revitalization of our Downtown," said Craig Beck, Executive Director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency. "The courthouse will be a new civic landmark that will be designed to reflect the unique characteristics of the surrounding Long Beach community, and we're thrilled to see it moving forward."
The new Long Beach courthouse is the first for which the state's Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is using an innovative public-private arrangement called "performance based infrastructure." The State anticipates reviewing three competing developer teams and finalizing their selection process in early 2010. The land exchange with the RDA will then be closed, and execution of the developer agreement will take place in April 2010. Construction is expected to commence within four months from the closing date, and construction of the new courthouse is expected to be complete in fall 2012.
The new facility will be located in Downtown's West Gateway area, between Broadway and 3rd Street, West of Magnolia Avenue, and will replace the outdated facility located at 415 Ocean Blvd.
For more than 45 years, the mission of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency has been to enhance the quality of life by improving blighted areas of Long Beach, revitalizing neighborhoods, promoting economic development, creating jobs, providing affordable housing and encouraging citizen participation. Visit the RDA online at www.LongBeachRDA.org
For this and other Press Releases, please visit:
http://www.longbeach.gov/news/
News article from the Press-Telegram regarding the land swap for the new courthouse:
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_13250106
Read more...
