Friday, October 16, 2009
Page 3
CO Architects to Design New Southeast L.A. Courthouse
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Judicial Council of California and the Administrative Office of the Courts yesterday announced that CO Architects has been selected to design the new Southeast Los Angeles Courthouse funded under SB 1407.
CO’s work is visible on several local college campuses, including the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Claremont Hall dormitory at Claremont-McKenna University, according to the architectural firm’s website. The firm also designed the expansion and renovation of the Santa Monica College Library.
Architects were selected for a total of 13 projects statewide through a request for qualifications that generated more than 300 written submissions from over 100 firms, an AOC spokesperson said. The AOC created a short list of 44 firms and conducted team interviews that included the affected local courts before making the final selections.
The AOC spokesperson indicated that contracts are expected to be negotiated with the selected firms within the next 90 days, but that architectural design for each project must wait until site acquisition is approved by the State Public Works Board. Site selection and acquisition typically take a year or more, although some of the projects may move more quickly through the process, the spokesperson said.
These projects are among the first funded by SB 1407, which designated revenue generated by various court fees, fines and penalties to fund up to $5 billion in lease-revenue bonds to finance 41 new construction and renovation projects throughout the state.
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