Funds OKd for Interim LAPD Center

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to spend as much as $95 million to buy and renovate a downtown office building for use as a temporary police headquarters while a new Parker Center is built.

Only Councilman Tony Cardenas voted against acquiring the 11-story building on South Broadway that is co-owned by former Laker basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who has been a political supporter of Mayor James K. Hahn.

Cardenas said he did not have enough information about whether the purchase was a good deal for the city.

“I’m not convinced we’re ready,” he said.

Because Johnson and partner Kenneth Lombard have been active political supporters of Hahn and some council members, critics had charged that the deal smacked of favoritism.

Johnson and Lombard, who purchased the three-building Transamerica complex in May, are expected to make an unspecified profit on the sale.

But the council said the 490,000-square-foot structure -- adjacent to the 32-story Transamerica Tower Center -- was the best and most cost-effective place to house the Police Department during the four years that construction of a $470-million headquarters near City Hall is expected to take.

Buying a building will ultimately cost less than renting one, officials said, especially because other city departments will move in once the LAPD has decamped to its new digs.