Sanitary district to put $750,000 worth of work into new headquarters
Costa Mesa Sanitary District board members decided this week to approve about $750,000 worth of upgrades and renovations to prepare their new headquarters near John Wayne Airport for move-in.
The board voted 4-0 on Tuesday, with Vice President Art Perry absent, to award a $750,308 contract to Orange-based Kinney Construction to make over the district’s new digs at 290 Paularino Ave.
The contract includes a 10% contingency, for a total cost of up to $825,000. That’s below the $845,000 the district had budgeted for repairs and upgrades to the property, according to district General Manager Scott Carroll.
The board held its first meeting at the new location Tuesday, but future meetings will be at the current headquarters at 628 W. 19th St. until the Paularino property is ready in the fall, Carroll said.
On Tuesday, it was apparent the building needs some work.
In one spot, cables hung from the ceiling. Several ceiling tiles were missing or askew.
The name of the former tenant, JWC Environmental, was still visible above the entrance, though its sign had been removed.
The district has major plans to retool the space to fit its needs, Carroll said.
Along with painting and installing new carpeting, work includes making the restrooms compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, demolishing three offices to create a larger boardroom that also could serve as a multipurpose space open to community groups, creating a new room to serve as the district’s emergency operations center, creating a permits office and putting in new doors to secure the front lobby.
The plan is to wrap up the renovations in November and move in the staff the first week of December.
The district decided to buy the Paularino property earlier this year for about $3.75 million. About $1.24 million of the price was covered by proceeds from the sale of the 19th Street headquarters.
Officials say the new space will provide much-needed additional room and parking.
The Paularino property is nearly 11,300 square feet, while the 19th Street building is about 7,000 square feet.
The sanitary district provides sewer and curbside trash collection services to about 116,700 ratepayers in Costa Mesa, parts of Newport Beach and unincorporated sections of Orange County.
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Luke Money, lucas.money@latimes.com
Twitter: @LukeMMoney
