Sold

LA chancery bought by local developer... for $31 million:

Staffers who oversee the archdiocese's cemeteries will move to office space on the grounds of a cemetery, [archdiocesan spokesman Tod] Tamberg said. Others will consolidate in four of the building's floors that Church officials will lease with the new owner, said Tamberg.

Tamberg did not know what would be on the building's other eight floors.

Jamison Properties president David Lee did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking details.

Cardinal Roger Mahony announced last year that the archdiocese would sell the Catholic Center and other church properties to raise money to settle hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits. Church officials had identified about 50 other nonessential properties that could be sold to fund settlements.

The deal reached last year with sexual abuse plaintiffs settled all 508 cases that remained against the archdiocese, which also paid $60 million in 2006 to settle 45 cases that weren't covered by sexual abuse insurance.

The Catholic Center is the archdiocese's first major sale aimed specifically at paying for the settlement, Tamberg said....

The headquarters building on Wilshire Boulevard was donated to the archdiocese in 1995 by drug store operator Thrifty PayLess after the company moved following the 1992 race riot, which hit the area.

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