Features

Will the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Bevatron building and Iceland become the city’s newest landmarks? And will the Drayage fall to the wrecking ball? 

All are up for consideration Thursday night, when the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) meets at 7:30 p.m., in the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Ave., at Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

Lab officials oppose landmarking the Bevatron building in the hills above campus, which housed the massive particle accelerator that was the site of Nobel Prize-winning experiments. 

The landmarking effort began as a last-ditch effort by critics who fear the demolition and subsequent caravans of waste-filled trucks down Berkeley streets would result in citizen exposures to a variety of toxic substances, including radioactive dust and asbestos particles. 

Iceland, a skating rink at 2727 Milvia St., has been embroiled in a dispute with city officials who want the owners to replace the current cooling system which uses ammonia, a hazardous substance. 

The owners have asked the LPC to continue the hearing until November. 

Commissioners will also consider a request to demolish the Drayage, a former warehouse at 651 Addison St., which had become an artists’ colony, featuring spaces converted into live/work units by the artists who lived there. 

City officials ordered them out because the conversions had never been approved by the city and were judged dangerous by fire inspectors. 

Because the structure is more than 40 years old, the demolition was referred to the LPC for review by city planning staff. 

Other items on the agenda include a hearing to landmark 1770 La Loma Ave. and to declare 2411 Fifth St. a structure of merit, a landmark designation for structures that have undergone significant alterations since they were first built.