Supervisors approve $33M Downey laboratory expansion

The L.A. County Department of Public Building will undergo a $33 million upgrade. (Photo by Alex Dominguez)

DOWNEY – The Board of Supervisors Tuesday agreed to allocate more than $33 million to upgrade the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Downey Laboratory.

The laboratory at 12750 Erickson Ave. performs a variety of public health and diagnostic tests for the county, the city of Pasadena, the Department of Public Health and local private hospitals.

The lab conducts human, animal and environmental testing, in addition to epidemiological testing on emerging variants of infectious diseases, according to the county.

Using grant revenue from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the $33 million will be used to build a new 18,000-square-foot, two- story building, and expand the facility’s warehouse space for storage of specimens and supplies.

“These improvements will help us to better protect the health of all county residents by increasing our capacity to identify the presence of diseases using the latest state-of-the-art molecular testing, which includes genetic sequencing,” county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement. “This new lab capacity will contribute significantly to our ability to understand the frequency, spread, and control of diseases in Los Angeles County.”

Construction on the project is expected to begin in July of next year.