Building Toward a Better Future

General Services is always looking ahead. Every year, the department plans to update, remodel or build new facilities.

As employees, we get to enjoy these new spaces, but modernized buildings help the public too. Better facilities allow us to provide better customer service.

Another bonus? Environmentally friendly methods are incorporated into these projects.    

In new construction, General Services builds to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and Zero Net Energy, which means a facility produces more energy than the building consumes in one year.

General Services also reduces embodied carbon; the emissions made in the manufacture, transport, use and disposal of building materials.

In simpler terms, that means using concrete with less cement, more energy-efficient produced steel and replacing some steel and concrete with wood.

In updates or remodels, General Services takes every opportunity to go green as well.

With all that in mind, here are highlights on what to expect in 2025, some new beginnings, planned renovations, what opened in 2024 and what’s in the works.

OPENINGS SCHEDULED FOR 2025

Ramona Community Resource Center: A grand opening celebration for a new $15 million resource center on the Ramona Intergenerational Community Campus is scheduled for Jan. 14. Construction began on the 7,400-square-foot facility in June 2023. The center will offer self-sufficiency programs and include Public Health, Behavioral Health and Child & Family Strengthening services.

The center is next door to the Ramona Library. Future plans in the Ramona community include an affordable housing complex and a new Sheriff’s station.

Public Health Lab

Public Health Lab/Parking Structure/Consolidation: The new 52,000-square-foot public health lab going up at the County Operations Center is expected to open in May. The $92 million public health lab will be two-stories high and measure three times the size of the old, outdated lab at the now vacant Health Services Complex on Rosecrans. Nearly 90 employees and contractors will work there.

Next door at the existing 5530 building, 750 Public Health Services staff members will move in once remodeling is complete. The four-story, 150,000-square-foot building is one of four similar office buildings on the campus. Hybrid work schedules and desk sharing allowed General Services to consolidate staff at the four office buildings into three. The consolidation saved the County from building a replacement for the Health Services Complex, resulting in a cost avoidance of $150 million.

The consolidation also allowed for the expansion of the parking garage north of the public health lab. The $35 million parking structure added 725 spaces and 146 electric vehicle charging stalls. It opened last September.  

Tri-City Psychiatric Health Facility: A new $28 million facility in Oceanside is expected to open this spring. The 13,600-square-foot, 16-bed facility will bolster behavioral health care needs in the region. The groundbreaking took place in October 2022 on vacant land at the Tri-City Medical Center campus. The County and the medical center worked together to plan, design and build the center. Tri-City will operate the facility.

NEW BEGINNINGS

East region Crisis Stabilization Unit Rendering

East Region Crisis Stabilization Unit: Officials broke ground for the County’s seventh crisis stabilization unit (CSU) last July. The CSU will be the first to open in the East County. CSUs offer people who are suffering a mental health crisis a safe, calm place to recover rather than an emergency room or hospital. The 14,300-square-foot building will include a substance use outpatient clinic. The CSU is expected to open in early 2026.

Howard the dog first to break ground at santee animal shelter

Santee Animal Shelter rendering

Santee Animal Shelter: In October, Howard the dog was the first to break ground for a new animal shelter in Santee. The $37.5 million facility will replace the Bonita animal shelter that was built in 1974.

The new site will include a 23,000-square-foot building with a small animal hospital, a barn, kennels and an outdoor livestock area. The site will also temporarily house animals during local disaster events. The site is scheduled for completion in spring 2026.    

casa de oro library rendering

Casa de Oro Library: A groundbreaking ceremony for a new Casa De Oro Library is scheduled for Feb. 14. The branch will double in size from the storefront location it has occupied since 2002. The new building will measure about 12,000 square feet and include a community room, a bookstore and large spaces for children and teenagers. The opening is scheduled for mid 2026.

MAJOR RENOVATIONS

County Administration Center

County Administration Center (CAC): The $140 million Major Systems Renovation Project began in 2019 and is being carried out in phases to minimize impact to operations. The renovation will replace life safety, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and architectural items to ensure current safety standards. The Board Chamber was also completely remodeled and included a state-of-the-art audio/visual system.

The project will preserve historic significant features, and provide improvements such as LED interior lighting, new ceilings, exterior painting, fire sprinkler system, rooftop fall restraint systems, new roofing, a new emergency generator, new security systems, renovated elevators and a building wide seismic retrofit. The completion date is scheduled for spring 2027.  

Hall of Justice: Another years-long renovation project is replacing HVAC systems, electrical and plumbing at the Hall of Justice. Other changes include new EV charging stations, modernized escalators, a security systems upgrade and new window platform. Completion is scheduled for next October.

Edgemoor Hospital: Plans are underway to renovate Edgemoor, a 192-bed Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) in Santee. Twenty SNF beds will be removed to make way for an acute, or higher level of care, psychiatric unit with 12 beds. The $28 million construction project is scheduled to get underway in August and open in early 2027.

PLANNING STAGES  

Substance Use Residential Treatment Services (SURTS): Construction is scheduled to get underway this month at the SURTS facility in National City. The Major Systems Renovation and Tenant Improvement Project will create 16 new recuperative care beds.  The construction completion date is planned for March 2026.  

Jacumba Fire Station #43: A new 8,400-square-foot fire station for Jacumba is now in the design phase. The facility will replace the existing one and include two apparatus bays, a lobby, office, six dormitory rooms, restrooms, a kitchen, dining room, day room, gym, solar panels and a battery storage system. The $18 million project is scheduled to break ground in late 2025 and open in early 2027.

A LOOK BACK AT 2024

Youth Transition campus

Youth Transition Campus Phase 2: A vision to replace a “typical” detention facility with one more in line with a school campus is now a reality. Officials celebrated the end of phase 2 construction last July. The first phase included eight new housing units with a total of 96 beds, a dining building, a school complex with an open courtyard, a gymnasium, an amphitheater and a stage. Phase 2 created a Youth Development Center office building and a six-housing unit, 72-bed campus with its own education complex.

Rancho San Diego Library

Rancho San Diego Library: The Rancho San Diego Library completed its $1.95 million expansion and opened to the public in January 2024. The project added more than 400 square feet to the Friends of the Library Bookstore. Visitors gained more space for browsing and the bookstore also has more room for new materials and multiple media platforms. The existing library gained new workstations for the staff, new wall and floor finishes, and increased storage space.

Julian Library Community Room

Julian Library: In August, a ribbon-cutting celebrated the renovation and additions at the Julian Library. A new community room was built to tie-in with the existing building. The room features a motorized wall to separate the space into two rooms, lighting controls, card reader access, state-of-the-art AV and HVAC systems, two new restrooms in the art gallery hallway and a kitchen with a pass-through window. The project also included interior finishes and new signage. Workers also installed a new diesel emergency generator and electrical equipment to provide back-up power for the entire library site.