Some interesting developments this week in the Downtown News. I'm surprised no one's posted them yet.
http://www.downtownnews.com/articles/2008/04/07/news/news05.txt
Music Center Annex to Be Replaced
Building up to 10 Stories to Rise Across From Cathedral
by Rod Riggs
Bunker Hill, long a site of dramatic construction projects, is in line for yet another. The Music Center will replace its forlorn Annex building on the northwest corner of Grand Avenue and Temple Street, officials have announced.
The 1950s-era structure housed the County Coroner's office until that activity was moved to the county health center. Various contractors used the building until it was turned over to the Center Theatre Group in 1967 for offices and workspace.
"What had been the morgue became rehearsal space," said Stephen D. Rountree, Music Center president and chief executive.
The Annex project was described by Music Center Chairman John B. Emerson at the annual Shining Stars program honoring volunteers at the performing arts hub. He led up to the disclosure by describing progress of the Music Center's present construction.
The $30 million renovation of the Mark Taper Forum is on budget and on time, he said. The first new production will take place in September.
However, the planned remodel of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion will be put off until 2012 because Los Angeles Opera has contracts for performances until then.
"If there is to be a substantial revision of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, requiring replacement of the offices now in the building, then we need to relocate them," Emerson said.
Present thinking is to tear down the low-slung Annex and replace it with "something more in keeping with the neighborhood," Emerson said. "The area under consideration would be rebuilt into an exciting new building for offices and rehearsal space for use by the Center Theatre Group and the leadership of the Music Center."
The Music Center board is considering a 150,000-square-foot building of six to 10 stories.
"It would be scaled to be an appropriate neighbor to the Cathedral" across the street, Rountree said.
In addition to rehearsal rooms and studios for dance, opera and theater, it would have offices and a new feature, a small "black box" theater - one with simple amenities and flexible design - for educational programs.
"It's very expensive to use the larger theater for such programs," Rountree said.
Fitting Architectural Neighbor
The project would sit near the northern end of a rapidly changing Grand Avenue. Immediately north of the principal Music Center campus, it would face the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and be within walking distance of the under-construction $232 million High School for the Visual and Performing Arts. It would be less than two blocks from Walt Disney Concert Hall and the coming $3 billion Grand Avenue development.
Although the Music Center board has not employed an architect, Rountree said, "Obviously the building will have to have some architectural character appropriate to a neighborhood that includes the new performing arts high school, the Cathedral, Disney Hall and MOCA."
The County, which operates the Music Center, has "blessed the concept," he added.
"We don't have the money yet, but hope the financial picture will come together by the end of summer. We expect to complete the project by 2012 so we can move the staff and free up the Pavilion for the work to be done there," Rountree said.
Meanwhile, work continues on the Mark Taper Forum, the 1967 cylindrical venue that has hosted many of the Music Center's more adventuresome productions. The 745-seat theater will see expanded restrooms and a lounge on the lower level. It will also allow for a larger lobby.
In the auditorium, theatergoers will find new seating with green upholstery. Sight lines are also being improved.
Backstage dressing rooms have been moved to a lower level. Additional space came from removing a "treadmill" installed at the rear of the building to move scenery, but never used. Revision of the ventilation system provided more overhead space. Wardrobe and props now can be stored on site.
"There is the safety factor of less crowded conditions plus, some artists just did not like the backstage," Rountree said. An unexpected benefit was that a wheelchair ramp added in the 1990s can be made nearly level with the new configuration.
"It will be a dramatic change," Rountree said, even though the exterior of the building has not been altered perceptibly. In fact, Jacques Overhoff, the artist who created the sculpture relief that runs around the top of the edifice, has been located and is expected to observe restoration of areas that have suffered damage over the years.
The renovation of the Taper is expected to be complete by July, and the building will reopen to the public Sept. 14 with the premiere of John Guare's dark comedy The House of Blue Leaves.
The Ahmanson Theatre was remodeled in the mid-1990s, leaving just the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to be brought up to date.
"We need to relocate the staff from the building. They don't need to be sitting next to the stage," Rountree said. "Meanwhile, there is a lot of work we can do without closing the building.
Architects and engineers are analyzing the 45-year-old Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to see what must be done to bring its lighting and sound systems up to date. The renovation may near completion in 2014, Rountree said.
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