County Operations Center Buildings Taking Shape

If you haven’t been to the County Operations Center lately, you might not recognize it. You know the two new office buildings with all the windows? Well, now there are two more.

And there’s also a big building between them destined to be a conference center.

The word on the street—or on Overland Avenue— is that even COC employees who see the construction progress every day are in awe of the rapid changes.

“The one word is, ‘Wow,’” says Jeff Redlitz the Project Manager of the COC construction. “People can’t believe how fast it’s happened.”

Redlitz said the new office buildings will be done, furnished and ready for move-in by late July or early August 2012.The structures are identical to the buildings at 5550 and 5560 Overland Avenue that opened earlier this year, and departments that are lucky enough to get the new space will enjoy the open floor plans, natural lighting and that new building feel.

And then there’s the view. If you think there’s nothing to see in Kearny Mesa, you might change your mind when you survey the city spreading out below and the mountains beyond from the third or fourth floor of one of the Overland offices.

So who gets the sweet new digs? Lucky departments include the Department of Planning and Land Use, Public Works, juvenile division attorneys from the Public Defender and the Alternate Public Defender and County Counsel attorneys who handle juvenile dependency hearings. Other occupants will be Human Resources, the Auditor/Controller and an inmate records division of the Sheriff’s Department.

Even if your department isn’t at the COC, you’ll want to find a reason to visit the new conference center when it opens. It’s designed to be a campus hub, with a dramatic second-floor terrace and attractive landscaped roof that will make it a great place to grab lunch or have a meeting.

The food service contractor, CulinArt, is expected to run a restaurant-style cafeteria with healthy and high-quality food. The company runs corporate cafes all over the country, and one of their operations in Connecticut was ranked number three on a list of “best corporate cafés” by Fortune 500, after Google and eBay. Locally, CulinArt feeds Qualcomm and Intuit, the tech company that makes TurboTax.

Besides being the COC’s gastro-gathering place, the conference center will host Planning Commission hearings, which now meet in the County Annex on Ruffin Road, and will be available as a second meeting place for the Board of Supervisors.

The conference center will also be used for large-scale trainings and other public meetings. With solar panels, low water landscaping and a variety of sustainable features, it’s aiming for LEED Platinum Certification, the highest mark of “green” building recognized by the industry. The first two office buildings at the COC are LEED Gold certified, and the other two are expected to achieve the same mark.

Now, if you’re saying to yourself, the COC’s so great, I wish I could take a piece of it home, here’s a little secret. Have you noticed the lemon tree? Go ahead and pick a nice yellow fruit if you see one, Redlitz says.

“Most people are too polite to pick them,” he says.

The lemons may go off-limits, if it turns out the giving tree can’t stand the attention. But in the meantime, enjoy the tree, enjoy the COC, and look forward to the new additions.

An artist's rendering shows the conference center, which will be a focal point for meetings and meals.