SAN DIEGO—Thousands of San Diego residents and visitors turned out May 10th for a day-long grand opening of the new San Diego County Administration Center Waterfront Park, located on a prime, 12-acre site along Pacific Coast Highway between Ash and Grape streets in downtown San Diego.

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., led the successful execution of the $49.4 million design-build project. McCarthy's design-build team included SGPA, architect-of-record; Schmidt Design, landscape architect of record; Aquatic Design Group, fountain designer; and IPD (International Parking Design) for the parking portion of the project. The project broke ground in fall 2012, and was completed on time.

The San Diego County Administration Center Waterfront Park development project converted the large eight-acre, on-grade parking lots north and south of the historic Administration Center and the immediate outdoor areas west and east of the building to a large, 12-acre community and regional open space amenity. The park encompasses a promenade, two expansive greens, themed specialty gardens, plazas and terraces, a picnic area, shade trees and palm groves, a large children's playground and public restrooms. It also includes a single-level, subterranean parking garage located off Ash Street that accommodates 251 cars.

“This new Waterfront Park will serve as the 'front porch' of downtown San Diego's North Embarcadero, and become one of our city's civic treasures -- now and in generations to come,” said San Diego County supervisor Ron Roberts, who has championed the park project for over 15 years. “I could not be more proud to see this project become reality for the more than a million guests that are expected to visit and enjoy it each year.”

The central design element of the park are lighted fountains that run a total of 830 feet long on either side of the County Administration Building, with 31 jets that shoot water 14 feet up into the air and down into shallow splash areas for children. The north side of the building has four basins with 18 jets, while the south side has three basins with 13 jets. The fountains are electronically equipped to operate in four different modes, depending on the time of day and weather conditions, with basins dry, jets only, jets plus reflecting pools, or reflecting pools alone.

“The fountains originally were designed to be constructed of granite, but in the value engineering phase of this project, we were able to lower material costs significantly by proposing that the basins be constructed of exposed aggregate concrete with granite chips, which produced a very aesthetically pleasing outcome,” said McCarthy project director Lee Sudhoff. “Prior to constructing the fountains, we built a 40-foot by 40-foot mockup that allowed us to test the materials and perfect the design and mechanical aspects so there would be no glitches or delays during actual construction.”

Located to the north of the County Administration Center are two-and-a-half acres of specialty gardens, grouped into three distinct themes: the Grass Garden, the Mediterranean Garden and the Diversity Garden.

Woven throughout the specialty gardens are pathways with benches where visitors can meander and pause to take in the beauty of the gardens as well as views toward the bay, afforded by the higher elevation of the garden area. A platform provides the ideal setting for weddings and other private ceremonies.

An intricate, high-tech subsurface drip irrigation and drainage system built below the gardens contains rain sensors and provides a means for utilizing rain runoff. The system will help maintain ideal soil conditions for all of the gardens year around.

Located south of the County Administration Center is the ocean-themed, one-plus-acre children's play area, featuring swirling concrete pathways; two large grass knolls; and three, large mounds of vivid-blue, rubberized, resilient surfacing and a wide assortment of unique playground equipment for children of all ages. Decomposed granite was used to surface the remainder of the pathways. Trees surround the playground's perimeter and seating areas.

"We have reclaimed the waterfront," said San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer. "It was a parking space; now it's a people space."

Built in 1938, the historic San Diego County Administration Center has stood on the San Diego bay front, welcoming residents and visitors alike and symbolizing the ideals of public service, as summed up by the motto, “The noblest motive is the public good.” The McCarthy design-build team was hired to navigate any issues related to the County Administration Center's historical building status and ensure consistency of integration and integrity.

As part of this project, the west side of the building was given all new terracing, railings, retaining walls, landscape and exposed aggregate concrete where the original aggregate concrete had to be torn up to accommodate installation of the fountain chiller lines, which run the entire length of the site from north to south.