San Diego

After operating 23 years in a now-cramped building on Camino Del Rio South, the California Highway Patrol’s border division, which covers nearly four southern counties, will move to new headquarters in Kearny Mesa.

The $2-million building is 30% built and should be completed by October.

“It’s a very utilitarian-appearing building, but I think it’s appealing,” said architect Richard Cornelius. “It’s going to be a staid-looking structure. It’s not the typical Mission Valley deal with lots of glass and very little wall space.” It will be a two-story building of split-faced gray concrete with a blue metal roof that houses a repair garage,, dispatch center, evidence room and offices.

The 29,260-square-foot building in Hazard Commercial Park on Farnham Road will be four times larger than the current headquarters. It will house administrative offices for 12 highway patrol commands from San Juan Capistrano to El Centro to the border, and it will eventually coordinate a network of about 1,000 emergency phones that will be installed near area freeways within a year. The border division oversees Imperial, Orange and San Diego counties and eastern Riverside County.

“We are jammed in here and it will be good to be out,” said Ben Killingsworth, division chief. “We’ve totally outgrown the facility.”

The state will lease the building from Murray Properties, Inc., a San Diego developer, for two years at about $33,000 per month, and then buy the building, Killingsworth said.