by Shane Henson — July 6, 2012—If plans proposed by U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini come to fruition, the city of Los Angeles will exchange its historic U.S. Courthouse located at 312 North Spring Street for a new, highly efficient facility large enough to house federal staff from several locations, to be built by 2016.
Tangherlini has instructed the GSA to pursue a partnership with a private-sector developer, where GSA would exchange the old, historic North Spring Street courthouse in downtown Los Angeles for the construction of a federal building on the downtown campus of the new Los Angeles courthouse. Building this new federal office is contingent on finding a private sector partner for the exchange. The proposed plan will be open to an extensive public process.
According to Tangherlini, the construction of a new federal building would allow GSA to consolidate thousands of federal employees on a central campus, stimulate the downtown economy, and eliminate costly leased space throughout the city—saving taxpayers more than $10 million per year in lease costs. This exchange also has the potential to save the government $250 million in renovation costs that the old courthouse needs.
