The Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Board of Airport Commissioners approved the allocation of $77.8 million to renovate the SkyView building at 6101 West 98th Street to hold the 700 employees that work at Los Angeles International Airport.

LAWA employees at LAX are currently housed in three buildings — known internally as Admin East, Admin West, and the current SkyView Center. The distance between the Admin West and Admin East buildings is five miles, which is significant when considering the traffic at the airport.

“If you have a meeting at the other building, it can be an hour of traveling,” LAWA Deputy Executive Director Jake Adams said during his presentation on the project at Thursday’s meeting.

On top of the issues created by not having a single centralized employee hub, the current buildings’ infrastructures have also shown signs of deterioration. There have been 324 calls for service on many of the buildings’ necessary features including plumbing, ceiling, elevator, HVAC, and restroom. The Admin West building even flooded this winter during the rain that hit the area. 

The new SkyView building will be built to accommodate 1,000 employees, more than 700 currently working at the airport. Among the updated features will be new meeting rooms, break rooms, a gym and fitness center, two large training rooms, and a new “state-of-the-art” board room. There will be a break room for employees on every floor, and the fifth floor of the building will also have an outdoor patio and cafe for enjoyment and leisure. 

About $4 million will be allocated for a new electrical system to repair the infrastructure of the building. This money, along with the $73.8 million in other construction costs for the building, has already been allocated to the LAWA budget for capital projects. The vote on Thursday appropriated the $77.8 million required from the larger Capital Improvement Program fund for this renovation.

Commissioner Courtney La Bau pointed out at the meeting that employees will need another location to work while the SkyView building is under construction. Adams explained that options are being considered and there is no concrete plan in place for where employees will be moved during the construction process, but that plan will be completed before construction begins.

There will be a professional moving company to help coordinate the logistics of moving furniture and other amenities from inside the building and $4.2 million of the budget for the project will go toward moving people out of the old buildings and into the new one.

“We don’t have one facility to house all of the SkyView folks,” Adams said. “We’ve got a pretty intense effort going to plan where we will accommodate staff during this time.”

There were also questions about what would happen to the land where the old buildings reside, with Board President Karim Webb asking about the Admin West Building in particular. LAWA CEO John Ackerman explained that there are plans to repurpose the Admin West campus, but nothing specific has been decided. 

Despite the nature of the project, there was still concern from employee representatives about the outcome. Marleen Fonseca, who serves as Executive Director of the EAA Labor Union, said that while the project is meant to benefit employees, they nor the unions that represent them were consulted about the project or its features. Fonseca expressed concerns about the lack of communication creating issues with things like workplace accommodations needed for workers on site.

“They have not been given the opportunity to give feedback on their new location,” Fonseca said of the workers. “There are requirements that the city has for office space for certain classifications, and we don’t know if those are being met.”

Board Vice President Matthew Johnson expressed his support for the project at Thursday’s meeting, arguing the change was “long overdue.”  He said that having employees and executives so spread out was not ideal, and this project will improve the airport experience for both customers and staff.

“I am very pleased we are moving forward with this project,” Johnson said. “I think the airport will lend itself to far more efficient operations than we have seen.”

The vote to approve the allocation passed with a 7-0 unanimous vote. Construction for the project is expected to break ground by the end of this year, with employees being moved into the renovated SkyView building by the end of 2025.

The image is a screenshot of a presentation showing the three current office locations.