LOS ANGELES _ The Los Angeles Times this summer will move from its historic headquarters in downtown Los Angeles to a campus currently under construction in El Segundo.
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong _ soon to be the new owner of the newspaper _ broke the news Friday during his first meeting with the staff, explaining that he wants to create a newsroom for the future. The quick move is necessitated because previous owners of The Times had sold the iconic building where newspaper has operated since 1935 to a Canadian developer.
The Times' lease for its newsroom and business administrative space expires June 30. Soon-Shiong said the current landlord has demanded a $1-million-a-month rent increase to keep the paper's staff at the building across from City Hall.
"There's not much time for me to find accommodation for 800 people," he told more than 300 employees who jammed into the Chandler Auditorium in the Times building to get their first glimpse of Soon-Shiong. "We decided that we needed to create the most modern newsroom ... one that respects the work and the lifestyle of the people who work in the newsroom.
"We need to build a campus that is there for the next 100 years, not to lease a building," he said.
There were audible gasps in the auditorium when Soon-Shiong announced the move. Some staff members have worked decades at the worn facility, and were stunned to learn that they would leave their longtime home. And for many, their commutes would grow.
But instead of spending an extra $12 million a year on rent, Soon-Shiong said he wants to invest in hiring more journalists, improving technology in the newsroom and fashioning a modern campus with amenities. The new campus would include an eight-floor building with 120,000 square feet of space. A museum of The Times' 136-year history would be housed on the first floor, along with event and retail space. Soon-Shiong's wife, Michele, is leading the design of the space, and he made several references to her interest in the Times' noted test kitchen.
Soon-Shiong owns several properties in El Segundo, including one that houses the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Medicine, a center that offers diagnostics and personalized treatment for cancer patients.
The Times will also keep offices downtown, perhaps at its Olympic Boulevard printing plant.
Soon-Shiong is in the process of finalizing his $500-million purchase of The Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune from Chicago newspaper company Tronc. The deal, first announced on Feb. 7, will return The Times to local ownership after 18 years under control by entities based in Chicago. The sale is expected to be finalized later this month.
Friday morning's town hall meeting was the staff's first opportunity to meet the former UCLA surgeon who amassed a fortune building, then selling two pharmaceutical companies.
Soon-Shiong said he sees El Segundo as a gateway city given its proximity to LAX and, in turn, to the Pacific Rim. He explained to staff members that The Times should not see its mission as serving Los Angeles, but the entire region, the western United States as well as Asia, Mexico and beyond.
The move is a boost to El Segundo, which has benefited from the spillover of Silicon Beach. It already has practice facilities for the Lakers and the Kings and it is home to such major corporations such as Mattel, AT&T's DirecTV, Raytheon, advertising agencies and a Chevron oil refinery.
El Segundo has emerged in the last decade as a location for businesses in creative fields such as biotechnology and entertainment. Many warehouses and office buildings dating to the middle of the last century that used to serve the aerospace industry have been converted to campus-style offices
Last year, Soon-Shiong opened the Chan Soon-Shiong Institute for Medicine, down Mariposa Avenue from the Lakers' training facility. Kite Pharma opened a manufacturing plant in the community in 2016.Other businesses moving in include professional services firms such as architects and advertising agencies, and new-media entertainment companies such as video game makers and web designers, according to city officials
The town's name, in Spanish, means "The Second"; it was so named because it was the second Standard Oil refinery on the West Coast.
(Staff writer Roger Vincent contributed to this report.)
