Los Angeles Times - 02.11.2019

BuSINESS

D SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2019:: LATIMES.COM/BUSINESS

C

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The shuttered Macy’s
store at the former Westside
Pavilion shopping center in
West Los Angeles will be
transformed into offices as
part of a massive makeover
by two separate developers
working to turn the failed
mall into a high-end haven
for tenants in creative fields
such as technology and en-
tertainment.
Los Angeles developer
GPI Cos. acquired the de-
partment store building in a
separate transaction from
one that enabled landlord
Hudson Pacific Properties
to redevelop the rest of the
old mall. Hudson Pacific
signed a lease with tech gi-
ant Google in January to be
its sole office tenant in the

New life for closed Macy’s store

The building is being

remade into offices for

creative firms as part

of redesign of former

Westside Pavilion.

By Roger Vincent

THE FAILUREof the Westside Pavilion offered an opportunity to create office

space in one of the tightest markets in the West. Above, a rendering of the project.

HLW

[SeeWestside, C4]

California

Atty. Gen.

Xavier Be-

cerra has

blocked a

proposed

merger of

two sectari-

an hospital

chains in

Northern California, as-

serting that the deal had

the”potential to increase

health costs, and potentially

limits access and availabili-

ty of healthcare services.”

The merger would have

brought together four Cath-

olic hospitals operated by

St. Joseph Health System

and five hospitals owned by

Adventist Health, which is

affiliated with the Seventh-

day Adventist Church. Both

religious groups place re-

strictions on healthcare,

particularly in the areas of

reproductive health and

gender identification.

Although Becerra didn’t

refer explicitly to the reli-

gious limits on the hospi-

tals’ services in his an-

nouncement Thursday

rejecting the merger, those

limits were among the con-

cerns cited by consumer

groups that filed objections

to the deal, such as Health

Access Calfornia and the

ACLU of Northern Cali-

fornia. No hospitals were to

be shuttered after the

merger, suggesting that

Becerra’s reference to “ac-

cess and availability” of

healthcare turned on reli-

gious strictures.

The ruling recognizes

“the threat that’s posed to

Californians’ health when

these entities that make

decisions based on religious

doctrine rather than pa-

tients’ needs are growing

and consolidating in our

state,” said Phyllida Burlin-

Proposed merger

of hospital chains

is scuttled by state

MICHAEL HILTZIK

[SeeHiltzik,C4]

A sluggish Southern Cali-
fornia housing market
showed signs of heating up
in September, as prices rose
modestly and sales jumped
by the largest amount in
nearly three years.
The six-county region’s
median price hit $533,000, a
2.5% bump from September
2018, according to CoreLogic
data provided by DQNews.
The number of new and re-
sale houses and condos that
sold climbed 10.4%.
The pickup follows a sus-
tained slowdown experts
blamed on the exorbitant
cost of housing across the
Southland. But real estate
agents say falling mortgage
rates have more and more
people touring open houses.
The rate on a 30-year
fixed mortgage has risen
slightly in recent weeks but,
at 3.78%, is still more than a
percentage point lower than
a year ago, according to
Freddie Mac. The change
saves $263 a month on a
mortgage payment for a
$533,000 house.
“Interest rates have
really brought a lot of buyers
out of the woodwork,” said
real estate agent Joe Man-
jarrez with Century 21 Realty
Masters. As evidence, he
pointed to a recent listing of
his: a three-bedroom in
Whittier listed at $539,000.
Fourteen offers later, it went
into escrow at $560,000. He
said another house similarly
priced had around 30 offers.
“Everything that is
around the $500,000 range ...
it doesn’t last on the mar-
ket,” Manjarrez said.
Real estate agent Tregg
Rustad said he’s also seeing
a surge in demand in the
pricey Westside neighbor-
hoods of Los Angeles, some-
thing he wouldn’t have ex-
pected a year ago when the
market started to slow dra-
matically.
While he’s now seeing
multiple offers, he said buy-
ers simply aren’t as willing to
pay something “unrelated to
reality” as they were two
years ago.
“They’re a little more

Region’s

home

prices,

sales up

Lower mortgage rates

drive buyer demand.

L.A. County’s median

climbs to $618,000 as

inventory falls 12%.

By Andrew Khouri

[SeeHomes prices, C3]

Federal safety regulators

have begun looking into

Tesla battery fires. The

probe covers all Model S and

Model X vehicles manufac-

tured between 2012 and 2019

and sold in the United

States.

The National Highway

Traffic Safety Administra-

tion is casting a wide net in

its action, which the agency

does not technically classify

as an “investigation” but

rather as a “defect petition.”

In a letter sent to Tesla’s le-

gal department dated Oct.

24, the agency demands that

Tesla produce all docu-

ments that relate to “high-

voltage battery fires that are

not related to collision or im-

pact damage to the battery

pack” in the Model S and

Model X.

That includes docu-

ments from “all original writ-

ten, printed, typed, recorded

or graphic matter whatso-

ever ... of every kind, nature

and description.” Included

are papers, letters, memos,

emails, charts, tables, ap-

pointment books, diaries,

travel reports, blueprints

and more than 100 other

sources of information.

The demand includes not

only Tesla but also contrac-

tors, consultants and agen-

cies involved with Models S

and X battery issues.

The media have reported

several incidents in which

Tesla batteries appeared to

spontaneously burst into

flames — sometimes while

driving, other times while

the vehicle was parked. If

Tesla knows of other such

fires that the media have not

picked up on, NHTSA wants

to know about them.

The Times attempted to

reach Tesla’s media rela-

tions team by email and by

phone Friday morning, but

the company has not re-

sponded.

After a fire was reported

in a parked Model S in Hong

Kong in May, Tesla beamed

TESLA

BATTERY

FIRES

BEING

PROBED

Safety agency asks the

company to turn over

all documents that

shed light on issues

with Models S and X.

By Russ Mitchell

[SeeTesla, C3]

Waymo wants to deploy a

robotaxi service for the general

public in parts of California as

soon as possible. But that’s un-

likely, the company says, be-

cause California says it has to of-

fer the service for free.

Last year, the California Pub-

lic Utilities Commission allowed

driverless “robotaxi” pilot pro-

grams in the state but banned

permit holders from charging

fares. The ban is considered tem-

porary but has no timeline. Some

industry analysts say the uncer-

tainty could put California’s

reputation as the world leader in

driverless technology at risk.

The free-or-nothing mandate

makes no sense to Waymo, the

driverless vehicle arm of

Google’s Alphabet, or to other

driverless vehicle start-ups hop-

ing to establish themselves in a

new industry that could produce

the biggest change in ground

transportation since the inven-

tion of the automobile.

Waymo requires a “commer-

cial path forward” before it can

offer

ALPHABET’SWaymo says “expansion would be difficult” in the state without the ability to charge fees.

Waymo

Free rides? No way,

robotaxi services say

Waymo, others chafe at PUC ban on fares in pilot programs

WAYMO DOESN’Tneed fare money to fund operations, but it says it

wants to experiment with customer response to various fare structures.

David McNewAFP/Getty Images

By Russ Mitchell

[SeeWaymo,C6]