^ Agreed. I think that deal is pie in the sky and dead on arrival, to cram two cliches into the same sentence.
The structure of the deal - proposed by the City Council, if I remember correctly - was to place the 400,000 sq. of office space, built by a private developer, on the same block as the courthouse, to be leased out to the City and/or County. In exchange, the developer would get a somewhat sweetheart deal on the current County Courthouse, which may require $250 million in seismic upgrades to get a certificate of occupancy again. Many experts came out and said that that deal is likely not feasible.
As for why this design doesn't take that office requirement into account is likely because this design was commissioned and completed prior to City Council dreaming up that office swap deal.
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"Then each time Fleetwood would be not so much overcome by remorse as bedazzled at having been shown the secret backlands of wealth, and how sooner or later it depended on some act of murder, seldom limited to once."
Against the Day, Thomas Pynchon
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