Major Redevelopment Project: SSA National City

This project, just outside of San Diego, transforms a 1970’s roller skating rink building with 100’ clear span bowstring trusses into a state of the art facility.
The National City Social Security Administration (SSA) Branch Office is a new 12,094 square foot office facility that is located in a dense, infill area within the San Diego MSA.

This building was completely redeveloped in 2014 as a renovation-to-suit construction project for SSA, using three walls of an existing structure as part of a comprehensive rebuilding of the entire property that rendered almost every element of this asset brand new. The site was selected by GSA after many years of searching for a new location for the National City SSA branch office, allowing SSA to upgrade to a facility that meets current federal security standards and provides single-tenant occupancy. Relocating this SSA office was exceptionally difficult, as National City is very dense, with small lot sizes and effectively no undeveloped land available, creating high barriers to entry for a space of this size and that meets the required amount of on-site parking that is also within the designated distance from public transportation that the GSA mandates.

A trip to a Social Security Administration Facility is typically a dreary experience that unfortunately is often housed in a substandard building. It was our goal to reverse this precedent and provide both employee and customer an uplifting space to interact and transact within.
This project, just outside of San Diego, transforms a 1970’s roller skating rink building with 100’ clear span bowstring trusses into a state of the art facility with a goal of maintaining the openness and uniqueness of the existing structure. This approach took much effort to convince the General Administration Services to embrace the existing qualities of the building to create naturally lit, inspiring space in lieu of the standard low, lay-in ceiling standard for this building type. A portion of the front of the existing building was cut away to make space for additional parking which allowed a full elevation of the steel bowstring truss to be exposed with north facing glass. A honed masonry façade is laid horizontally just under this curving glass with vertical punched windows to contrast with the lightness of the glass and truss work above. Inside the interiors are kept simple to allow natural light to be the predominate design element of the facility.

The final product is a high quality, healthy environment that successfully provides every demographic of the local community the chance to transact their personal business in an inspiring and democratic space.
National City is a centrally-located and well-established submarket, situated approximately 8 miles south of downtown San Diego. This site is by the intersection of Highland Avenue and E 24th Street, which experiences strong traffic counts, and is strategically positioned between Interstate 5 to the west, Interstate 805 to the east, and Highway 54 to the south, providing ideal freeway accessibility.