L.A. project looms as a money pit

With the latest price tag increase, expanding the Convention Center will cost $2.7 billion

- BY DAVID ZAHNISER

BUSINESS GROUPS have rallied around the project. But the tab has gone up by $483 million despite cost-cutting measures.

For the last year, Los Angeles political leaders have searched for a way to upgrade the downtown Convention Center without also delivering cuts to core services.

The city's budget team pushed for the facility to be emblazoned with digital billboards, which would produce tens of millions in ad revenue. A city-hired consultant came up with several cost-cutting measures, including the elimination of a public plaza originally planned as part of the expansion.

Despite those efforts, the project has only lost ground. On Tuesday, City Council members were informed the price tag has gone up yet again, reaching $2.7 billion — an increase of $483 million from six months ago.

Some at City Hall are growing nervous that the project's first phase won't be finished in time for the 2028 Olympic Games, jeopardizing the Convention Center's status as one of the main venues. Beyond that, city officials have begun worrying publicly that Gov. Gavin Newsom might not support a state bill permitting the installation of two digital billboards that would face the busy 10 and 110 Freeway interchange.

Those two signs-hotly opposed by groups such as Scenic America - are expected to produce the vast majority of the project's advertising income, according to the city's budget team.

If state and federal support for the signs fails to materialize, the city's general fund budget would have to provide an average of $111 million each year through 2058 to cover the cost of the Convention Center expansion, City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo said.