Costa Mesa Sanitary District, short on space, plans to move its headquarters across town
The Costa Mesa Sanitary District headquarters at 628 W. 19th Street has been the agency’s home since 2004.
It’s a little crowded at Costa Mesa Sanitary District headquarters, and on Monday the district’s directors took a step toward moving to a bigger space.
District directors voted to place a $400,000 down payment toward purchasing a new headquarters near John Wayne Airport. The $400,000 will help buy a nearly 11,300-square-foot building at 290 Paularino Ave. for $3.75 million.
The district is in escrow for the building, currently occupied by JWC Environmental, whose lease expires in April. Sanitary district directors intend to take out a 20-year loan and make annual payments, rather than use district reserves to buy the property outright.
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission approved the move Monday evening.
District officials say the move is required because their headquarters since 2004 — a two-story, 7,000-square-foot building at 628 W. 19th St. — is too small and leaves little room for growth.
District General Manager Scott Carroll said the district’s broker estimates the West 19th Street property is worth $1.3 million. The district will sell it to help pay for the Paularino property.
The move may be completed by this fall, Carroll said.
With the larger space, the district would have room to house its own engineer and inspector instead of outsourcing those positions, Carroll said.
The Costa Mesa Sanitary District is looking to buy a new headquarters at 290 Paularino Ave., near John Wayne Airport, for $3.75 million.
The new building also would have a much larger boardroom. The district’s room now has space for four to six attendees; the new one could host as many as 30.
District staff members also say the current Westside building doesn’t have enough parking, especially for board meetings. It has 14 spaces, three of which are available to the public. Sometimes staff parks across the street at the Costa Mesa Senior Center so people attending meetings can find a spot.
The Paularino building has 41 parking spaces.
Carroll said the larger building also could be rented by nonprofits for meeting space.
“It’s definitely a very functional building that can meet our needs,” he said.
The sanitary district wishes to retrofit the Paularino property with audio-visual upgrades to the conference room, security cameras and a special power supply that allows the district to operate during blackouts.
An exact cost of all suggested upgrades has not been determined.
The sanitary district, incorporated in 1944, moved to 628 W. 19th St. in 2004, after using space at Costa Mesa City Hall for decades.
It purchased the 19th Street building for $730,000. District officials said at the time that their space at City Hall was too small for their staff of about 15 people.
The district now employs about 20 people, some of whom are based at the district yard on Wilson Street.
