The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) has launched a new initiative for the renovation of the previous Department of Mental Health headquarters.
The department unveiled its new headquarters one year ago, a 20-story, 468,000-square-foot office structure on 6th Street and Vermont Avenue in Koreatown. The relocation, which was part of a broader initiative known as the Vermont Corridor, was supposed to pave the way for the adaptive reuse of the department’s previous headquarters as housing.
That strategy appears to be in turmoil right now. A staff report from the Chief Executive Office planned for discussion at the County Board of Supervisors meeting suggests a significant adjustment to the Vermont Corridor project.
The newly proposed development plans
County staff now recommends abandoning plans to convert the former DMH offices, a 12-story facility next door to the building that replaced it, into 172 market-rate apartments. Instead, the abandoned 1960s facility will be retrofitted, renovated, and expanded to house additional County activities.
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The projected US$170 million restorations would provide a new face to the tower’s outside while also completing seismic retrofit and building system enhancements. Furthermore, the refurbishment would increase the building’s floor plate by 78,000 square feet, adding to the existing 165,000 square feet of office space.
Retaining the former DMH building as office space would allow public employees who presently work in rented space to relocate, lowering the County’s lease footprint.
Los Angeles Department of Mental Health Former HQ Renovation Project timeline
Trammell Crow Company, the County’s development partner on the Vermont Corridor project, is projected to begin construction on the retrofit in April 2023 and have the property ready for move-in by July 2025, pending approval by the Board of Supervisors and the availability of bond funding.
The old DMH building is regarded as the second site of the larger Vermont Corridor project, which also includes the recently constructed office tower and a new senior affordable housing complex, with a YMCA community centre taking shape across the street.
