CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES

The joint city-county authority overseeing the $3-billion Grand Avenue project said Thursday that it had finalized negotiations with the project’s developer to delay payment of $250,000-a-month late penalties on the project.

Although a previous deal had called for Related Cos. to make the payments monthly after Feb. 15, Related now need not pay the penalties until the project breaks ground or until February 2011, at which time the authority can cancel its agreement with the developer. Related has said it has been unable to secure a construction loan on the project in the current financial market.

In a separate provision, however, Related must pay $25,000 to the authority every three months until the project breaks ground to partly cover costs incurred by the authority because of the delay. The first of those payments is due March 31 and will be prorated from Feb. 15.

-- Cara Mia DiMassa