L.A. to acquire property known as ‘crown jewel’
Site formerly owned by Union Pacific is part of mayor’s river revitalization strategy.
The Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to spend $59.3 million to buy a piece of land billed as a “crown jewel” in Mayor Eric Garcetti’s push to restore an 11-mile stretch of the L.A. River.
On an 11-0 vote, the council moved ahead with the purchase of the 41-acre site, formally known as G2, from railroad company Union Pacific.
Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, who heads the committee overseeing the river restoration effort, said the property is by far the largest along the concrete waterway to have a willing seller. That makes the purchase a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for City Hall, he said.
“It’s unheard of to have a parcel of this size that we can acquire next to the river for habitat restoration, for public use, for revitalization efforts — you name it,” O’Farrell said. “In order to do anything along the river, we must control the property.”
Because the site is heavily contaminated, the city’s plan for buying the land, cleaning the soil, restoring habitat and adding public improvements is expected to ultimately cost $252 million. The work would transform the mostly empty site into a place for residents to hike, bicycle and view wildlife.
The project is expected to take several years and is still short tens of millions of dollars. Nevertheless, Garcetti said at least a segment of the site could become “an initial park” within three years.
That would represent a big change for the G2 site, which has long been a barrier between the river’s edge and the nearby neighborhoods of Cypress Park and Glassell Park. The G2 parcel, Garcetti said, will open up more than a mile of direct riverfront access.
“For decades, we’ve looked at this piece of land, which has split the community away from the river,” Garcetti said. “We finally have the ability to bring people down to the banks of the river, through nature and parks, in a working-class part of Los Angeles.”
City officials have been working for years on a strategy to restore a stretch of the river between Griffith Park and downtown. That initiative would include efforts to widen the river in some spots and free sections of the channel from what Garcetti called its “concrete straitjacket.”
Revitalization of the 11mile stretch of river was expected to cost $1 billion three years ago, with the city splitting the cost equally with the federal government. Since then, the overall cost has jumped to nearly $1.6 billion.
A recent analysis warned that unless additional funds are identified, the city could shoulder as much as 76% of the cost of the restoration and recreation initiative.
State Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) identified $25 million in funds for the G2 site two years ago. City officials also expect the federal government to provide at least $25.4 million.
Still, prospects for securing federal funds are unclear, in part because of the election of President Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal money from cities with lenient policies toward illegal immigration.
G2 was once part of the 247-acre Taylor Yard railroad complex, which performed train maintenance and fueling operations.
Friday’s vote was welcomed by several environmental organizations, including the Friends of the Los Angeles River. Lewis MacAdams, that group’s cofounder, said he has been pushing for the purchase for more than 30 years.