Metro Headquarters Building facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Metro Headquarters Building |
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| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Commercial office |
| Location | One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles |
| Coordinates | 34°3′23.2″N 118°13′58.6″W / 34.056444°N 118.232944°W |
| Completed | 1995 |
| Cost | $300 million |
| Height | |
| Roof | 398 ft (121 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 26 |
| Floor area | 650,000 sq ft (60,000 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners |
| Main contractor | Charles Pankow Builders, Ltd. |
The Metro Headquarters Building (or One Gateway Plaza) is a 398 ft (121 m) high rise office tower in Los Angeles, California. It is located in Northeastern Downtown Los Angeles, east across the tracks from Union Station.
Completed in 1995, it serves as the main headquarters for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Building
The $300 million building is the main fixture of the Patsaouras Transit Plaza and features exquisite artwork throughout the exterior facades and the interior lobby. The building's design features a blend of contextual influences of 1930's Hispanic-Deco and post-modern architecture. It features four levels of underground parking.
The construction of this building was filmed in the 1994 children's video There Goes a Bulldozer, where Dave Hood climbed a tower crane.
In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Future's End", a digitally-altered image of the building was used to represent the 1996 headquarters of villain Henry Starling (Ed Begley, Jr.). The building was again seen, this time on a matte painting depicting a building on the Mari homeworld in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Random Thoughts" in 1997.
The building was also home to the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (Metrolink) from 2011 to 2018.
Costs vs. benefits
Prior to its completion, the building was criticized for its use of expensive construction materials as a public agency. One critic dubbed it as a "Taj Mahal" in reference to its Italian granite, English brick and a $300,000 aquarium. However, proponents of the project argued that it will revive a forgotten but historically important part of Downtown and create a new public place for a city with many communities but few communal gathering places.
Officials contended that the Metro-owned headquarters will save money by bringing together over 2,000 workers scattered around town at leased quarters.
Officials said that by putting both staffs under the same roof, the new building would also help put an end to the rivalries between staffs of the old transit agencies, the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, which were merged to form Metro.
