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	Church to Sell Headquarters to Pay Sex Claims Mahony Says the L.A. Archdiocese Could Use Funds from the Sale of Its Headquarters and Other Sites for Settlements By Paul Pringle Los Angeles Times May 16, 2007 http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-building16may16,1,5237502.story? coll=la-headlines-pe-california&ctrack=1&cset=true The Los Angeles Archdiocese will sell its administrative headquarters and perhaps other non-parish properties to help pay upcoming settlements of molestation claims against clergymen, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said Tuesday. Attorneys and other representatives for the alleged sexual abuse victims immediately dismissed Mahony's announcement as an attempt to generate sympathy for the archdiocese, which faces more than 500 molestation cases. If recent payouts are a guide, the final settlement bill could be $500 million to $600 million, and the archdiocese and insurance companies are fighting over how much of the total the church should pay. Mahony has been under pressure to pay half the amount, as the Diocese of Orange did in a $100-million molestation settlement in 2004. Settlement talks have dragged on more than four years. "The cardinal has instructed his attorneys to pull out every weapon to try to deny victims a single nickel," said plaintiffs attorney John Manly. He said the church has enough insurance coverage and other assets to settle the cases without unloading real estate. "The notion that the cardinal would have to sell buildings to pay settlements is just laughable," Manly said. A Mahony spokesman declined to answer any questions about the prospective sales, and an attorney for the archdiocese did not respond to an interview request. The church has land holdings in Southern California worth an estimated $4 billion, a Times analysis has found. The administrative headquarters in the Mid-Wilshire area could fetch $40 million or more in the red-hot office market, said Tom Bohlinger, a senior vice president for investment properties with commercial broker CB Richard Ellis. "At the high end, I would maybe see $47 million," he said. In his announcement, made on the archdiocese's website, Mahony said that the insurance companies should cover "the major share" of the settlements but that the church must be prepared to pay a portion. He said the archdiocese has assembled a list of 50 properties it could sell, starting with the 12-story building at 3424 Wilshire Blvd., which the Thrifty Payless firm donated to the church in 1995. The structure houses offices for the archdiocese's central administration, ministries and other services. Mahony said the archdiocese would either lease office space back from the buyer or find quarters elsewhere. He did not identify the other properties being reviewed for a possible sale but said no parishes or schools would go on the block. Some of the properties have been held as sites for future parishes and schools, he said. "Our preference would be to retain all of those properties," Mahony said. "But we have no other way to raise our share of money for coming settlements except through such sales." Mahony said the archdiocese will also "reevaluate some of the services and ministries it provides to parishes," but he did not elaborate. In December, after the archdiocese settled an initial group of 46 molestation cases, a Times analysis found that the church was the recorded owner of at least 1,600 properties in Southern California. Most of them are used for religious purposes, such as churches and schools. But the archdiocese also has invested in oil wells, farm parcels, commercial parking lots, a fashion district building and the land under an Alhambra car dealership, The Times found. As of last year, the archdiocese had investment funds of about $660 million, although it said most of the money belongs to affiliated organizations and parishes, according to the church's newspaper, the Tidings. Mahony said in his Web posting Tuesday that church leaders and others have been "working diligently" to settle the molestation claims, about 170 of which are set for trial by January. "It is my daily prayer that this process will continue to intensify, and that in the near future these cases can be fairly settled," the cardinal said. But the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Raymond Boucher, said the two sides have "yet to have a single meaningful settlement discussion" since December. Mary Grant, Western regional director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said Tuesday's announcement was "probably the first of several shrewd moves Mahony will make to claim poverty." "We hope that Catholics don't buy into an another maneuver," said Grant, who has a lawsuit pending against the archdiocese. Contact: paul.pringle@latimes.com
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