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Center of Attention

Need to register to vote or file a fictitious business name? Well, you have to travel to two separate locations in Kearny Mesa to run these errands, but the county is constructing a County Operations Center that would centralize many services and offices on one campus.

The county government and Los Angeles-based private developer Lowe Enterprises hosted a groundbreaking ceremony April 8 to mark the start of construction on the $531 million project on Overland Avenue off Clairemont Mesa Boulevard in Kearny Mesa. The amount covers all costs, including construction, design and moving expenses.

The 38-acre project consists of 900,000 square feet of new office space in six four-story buildings, a conference center and cafeteria, two parking structures and a central plant to serve the new buildings. All phases are approved, but funding has been OK? only for the first phase.

The site is now home to numerous buildings, which are at capacity and aging, says Jeff Redlitz, the architecture project manager with the county? Department of General Services.

Redlitz says the county forecasted last year that it would cost $216 million over a 20-year period to repair and upgrade existing facilities, now 40 years old.

Supervisor Ron Roberts says the existing offices are more of a hodgepodge. Roberts, whose district includes Kearny Mesa, says the new complex will have a campus atmosphere and will consolidate numerous services at one site. The new campus will be home to most land-use and environmental group offices, including planning, library headquarters and parks and recreation offices.

There are 1,100 county employees working in buildings on the site. The expanded campus could accommodate 4,000 employees, according to Redlitz.


Economic Driver

Roberts says the project will help bolster the local economy.

The county has sold $175 million in bonds and earmarked an additional $75 million from the general fund for the work, according to Roberts. The project has not received economic stimulus funding, the county says. Phase two will be funded during fiscal year 2010-2011.

?t is a double-edged sword. The economy is bad, but it is also a good time to get bids and build,?said Roberts.

The project would bring hundreds of construction-related jobs and take five years to complete. The first phase is bringing on 200 to 300 jobs in an 18-month span, according to San Diego-based Roel Construction, general contractor for the $190 million first phase.

The project team includes Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group as development partner, the local office of Project Management Advisors as project manager, and San Diego-based RJC Architects as architect.

San Diego? EsGil has provided plan check services, a third-party review of building plans to assure they comply with codes; Latitude 33 Planning and Engineering is civil engineer; Burkett & Wong Engineers has served as structural engineer; McParlane & Associates as mechanical engineer; Michael Wall Engineering as electrical engineer; and the San Diego office of Wallace Roberts & Todd as landscape architect.

In the first phase, Roel will demolish four structures and construct two 150,000-square-foot office buildings, a seven-level parking structure and central plant. This work is anticipated to be complete by late 2010. The central plant is 75 percent complete and construction has commenced on the two office structures.

The contractor will demolish existing structures as new buildings are built. Two buildings were demolished on site, but the Fleet Services, Sheriff? Data Services and Emergency Command Center facilities will not be removed.

?ne of the largest challenges with the construction is that the county employees will remain on-site and operational throughout construction,?said Mike Berryhill, project manager with Roel, which ranks No. 2 on the Business Journal? 2009 list of the county? Largest Private Companies with $355 million in 2008 revenue, up 11 percent from 2007.

Berryhill says Roel has done numerous multi-building, multiphase projects for clients such as Qualcomm and general construction for the Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center.

?ut this one is really unique because employees are coming to work directly around the project.?p>

Long-Term Plan

The second phase consists of demolishing five structures and constructing a third and fourth 150,000-square-foot office buildings and conference facility. Work on this phase is expected to start in late 2010 and be completed by spring 2012.

The third and final phase would include the construction of the second parking structure and last two office midrises. This phase is scheduled to start in spring 2012 and be completed by winter 2013.

The county, like many other counties including Los Angeles, Orange in Florida and Multnomah in Oregon, is going green.

The County Operations Center campus was designed and is being built to U.S. Green Building Council LEED certification standards.

Environmentally friendly and sustainable features include the use of large windows for natural daylighting, use of drought tolerant landscaping, and rooftop solar panels on the parking garages.

Mike McNerney, senior vice president of Lowe Enterprises, says county staff will have a highly professional environment that will foster collaboration. The master-planned campus includes landscaped open spaces that connect the buildings.

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