The supervisors' action also approved the environmental impactreport for the project, which will consolidate county operations atthe office campus. Mike McNerney, senior vice president at LoweEnterprises Real Estate Group, explains that the project will bedeveloped in two phases. Lowe will begin work in the fall on thefirst phase, which will include the development of a central plantthat will provide the mechanical systems to run the entirecampus.

Four 150,000-sf, four-story office buildings and a 20,000-sfconference center and cafeteria also are included in phase one,plus a seven-level parking structure and off-site improvements toreduce the project's traffic impacts. The first step in theconstruction process will be the demolition of several existingstructures that are more than 40 years old. Development of thefirst phase is expected to be completed over the next fouryears.

The remaining phase of the development is composed of anadditional two 150,000-sf, four-story office buildings, identicalto the buildings in phase one, and another parking structure. Aspart of the agreement with the county, Lowe and FairfieldResidential will acquire the approximately 19.5-acre annex site todefray the county's costs to build the new campus.