Construction is complete for the Los Angeles County Administration Building, a $65.1 million facility in South Los Angeles. Built by McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., the project comprises a $55.5 million, four-story office building and a $9.6 million, six-story parking structure occupying one block of Vermont Avenue between 83rd and 84th streets.
Developed by Los Angeles-based ICO Development LLC in conjunction with the county of Los Angeles, the 220,000-square-foot office building is leased to four Los Angeles County departments—Child Support Services, Department of Children and Family Services, Department of Mental Health, and Department of Social Services. Primarily focusing on services for children, the new facility creates a one-stop resource center for the families of Central and South Los Angeles. In fact, more than 4,000 program participants live within three miles of the building.
McCarthy constructed the office building under a design-build contract with ICO Development to ensure that the project was completed on-time, on-budget and within the county’s strict specifications. The entire project—including design by Gensler Architects, construction and installation of interior furnishings—was completed in less than two years. The resulting office building features a combination of a precast facade, aluminum window wall systems and plaster surface treatments.
As part of the project work, significant utility relocations and street improvements were necessary. McCarthy cooperated with ICO Development to direct work with local utility firms. Thus, the construction of the infrastructure and installation of electrical and communications utilities met the schedule set by the county. In addition, this coordination mitigated impact of utility installation on the construction operations.
The site previously housed unoccupied retail buildings that were partially burned during the Los Angeles riots of 1992, as well as dilapidated apartment buildings and unused parking lots. With the project’s opening, the county estimates that the 1,000 employees and 1,400 daily visitors will provide an economic renewal and lower crime rate for the area. In addition to helping current nearby businesses, the building has 4,000-square-feet of space on the ground floor for retail and restaurant development.
The Los Angeles County Administration Building includes the first project developed under the Civic Art Program, which puts one percent of the costs for new county buildings toward public art. The exterior and interior feature four tile murals by Ken Gonzales-Day, who glazed the tiles with digital images of oak trees and Califiornia meadow scenes.
About McCarthy
With more than 140 years of experience, McCarthy is one of the nation’s oldest, privately held construction firms and one of California’s premier commercial construction companies. Committed to the construction of green buildings, the company provides general contracting, construction management, program management and design/build services for healthcare, education, parking structure, entertainment, retail, laboratory, biotechnical, microelectronic, and industrial facilities; office buildings; tenant interiors; mixed-use; multifamily residential and bridges and highways. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned.
