Griffin Structures, a construction management firm, has completed the Hon. Jerry Lewis County of San Bernardino High Desert Government Center and the Hesperia, Calif. police department headquarters. Both facilities were designed, built, and certified to LEED standards.
The High Desert Government Center, built at an estimated cost of $21.6 million, totals 66,800 sq. ft. It will house many county departments including the First District Board of Supervisor’s Office, and agriculture, assessor, land use, fire, environmental services, and public works.
The Hesperia police department headquarters, contracted from the County of San Bernardino’s Sheriff’s Department, totals 45,700 sq. ft. and is valued at approximately $18.7 million. The building includes areas for patrol, briefings, evidence storage, investigations, and records, among other operations.
The facility also will house an emergency operations center. Both buildings were constructed as cost-effective, tilt-up concrete, essential service facilities. The project architect was Irvine, Calif.-based LPA, and the project builder was St. Louis, Mo.-based McCarthy Building Companies.
“The government center and police facility came in millions of dollars under the original budget,” says Carl Alban, director of architecture and engineering with the County of San Bernardino.
The opening of the two new facilities completes Hesperia’s Civic Center, which includes a 50,000 sq. ft. city hall, 20,000 sq. ft. library and a five-acre civic center park that includes an amphitheater and activity spaces. The civic center totals 27 acres and 182,500 sq. ft. of buildings with an overall cost of approximately $71.7 million.
Griffin Structures provided program and construction management services to the entire civic center project. “We worked closely with the city and county to plan, design, finance, and build the project,” says Roger Torriero, CEO and president at Griffin Structures. “We sought out ways to bring greater value and efficiency to the project in order to maximize the investment made by the county and city.”
Griffin also sought to create financing options and encourage sustainability throughout the building process, he adds.
Grants from the state and federal governments helped fund the High Desert Government Center’s 286-kilowatt solar energy system which is forecast to reduce electricity consumption for the building by 70%, resulting in an estimated annual savings of approximately $60,000. The estimated total cost to construct the solar project was $2.8 million. It was funded with a $1.5 million energy efficiency grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus bill, $720,000 from the California Solar Initiative, and $623,000 in contingency funds from the High Desert Government Center.
The police headquarters features an integrated grid-tied solar electric system. The system is a 193.2 kilowatt project that is expected to produce at least 304,150 kilowatt hours annually, offsetting nearly 71% of the expected 431,448 kilowatt hours of annual energy usage of the building.