New Police Building

HESPERIA, CA-Griffin Structures Inc. of Laguna Beach, CA has completed 112,500 square feet of construction comprising the Hon. Jerry Lewis County of San Bernardino High Desert Government Center and the Hesperia Police Department Headquarters, projects valued at $40.3 million that are the final phase of the 182,500-square-foot, $71.7 million Hesperia Civic Center. The LEED-certified buildings, which provide space for additional growth for at least the next 20 years, include the $21.6 million, 66,800-square-foot High Desert Government Center and the $18.7 million, 45,700-square-foot police headquarters facility.

The government center will house multiple county departments including the first district board of supervisors’ office, the agriculture, assessor, recorder, land use, fire, human resources, environmental services, public works, registrar of voters and veterans affairs. The police department headquarters, contracted out from the County of San Bernardino’s Sheriff’s Department, includes patrol areas, briefing areas, evidence storage, investigations services, office management and records, and other police facility components. The facility also features a community room component that will be utilized as an emergency operations center.

San Bernardino Government Center

Both buildings were constructed as tilt-up concrete, essential service facilities, the most cost-effective structures on the market, according to Griffin. The project architect was Irvine, CA LPA, and the project builder was St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Cos. Inc.

According to Carl Alban, architecture and engineering director with the County of San Bernardino, the government center and police facility came in millions of dollars under the original budget.

In addition to the two new facilities, Hesperia’s Civic Center, which includes a 50,000-square-foot city hall, a 20,000-square-foot Library and the five-acre Civic Center Park, a centerpiece to the project that includes an amphitheater, meeting areas, activity spaces, play areas and other amenities. Since 2004 Griffin Structures Inc. has been a part of the overall design of the civic center, which totals 27 acres.

Griffin Structures provided program and construction management services to the entire civic center project. Additionally, Griffin was involved in a detailed needs assessment for the city hall, library, and police department before construction. The company worked closely with the city and county to plan, design, finance, and build the project, said Roger Torriero, president and CEO of Griffin Structures.

Grants from the state and federal governments have allowed the High Desert Government Center to showcase a 286-kilowatt solar energy system that is anticipated 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 more than $2.8 million, funded with a $1.48 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 on both the carport structure arrays and roof-mounted arrays. The system is a 193.2-kW DC project that is expected to produce at least 304,150 kWh annually, offsetting nearly 71% of the expected 431,448 kWh annual energy usage of the building.