Plans for new county building move forward

The old county jail, as seen here from the south east corner. (KEVIN MURRAY / Courtesy)
The old county jail, as seen here from the south east corner. (KEVIN MURRAY / Courtesy)
MARTINEZ, Calif. – Contra Costa County has selected three firms to help explore the options for building a new administration building, a new Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and other capital facilities.

The Board of Supervisors recently approved contracts with KMD Architects for the new administration building; RossDrulisCasenberry Architecture for the EOC project and Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture for the County facilities planning and projects.

“We want to keep the administration building in downtown Martinez,” said Supervisor Federal Glover, who represents Martinez on the board of supervisors.

The three firms were chosen from among the 10 firms that responded to the county’s Request for Qualifications after review and interviews by senior County staff.

LMD Architecture has recently designed administration buildings for Solano and San Luis Obispo counties. In addition, they designed the new juvenile justice facility for Contra Costa County and aided the county with the design and application for an expansion at the West County Detention facility.

RossDrulisCusenberry Architecture has worked on over 40 EOC projects across the country, including the State of California Emergency Services & State Operations Center, the City of Los Angeles EOC and the Alameda County Sheriff’s EOC. They also designed the Family Law Center in downtown Martinez.

Dreyfuss + Blackford have helped over 10 California counties with facility master planning efforts, most recently with San Mateo County.

KMD Architecture is working with county staff to evaluate sites in downtown Martinez for replacement of the current administration building at 651 Pine St. This process will include an analysis of the Old Jail complex for possible reuse.

“We want to see if it is economically and physically feasible to incorporate the Old Jail into the design,” said Glover. “The results of the analysis may be available by mid-October.” A public meeting will be conducted to present the architects’ findings.

Chief Assistant County Administrator Eric Angstadt is coordinating the process for the update of the Capital Facilities Plan and the new administration building project.

“We are pleased to have three top-notch firms working with us on these important County projects,” said Glover.

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