Rand Beveridge admired the high, dark-brown ceiling in San Juan Capistrano’s new Spanish Colonial-themed City Hall.
“I love it,” he said, Tuesday, Jan. 21, sitting on a bench near the front counter, waiting to get a parking pass for his RV. “The architecture is really nice.”
Beveridge had first stopped at the temporary offices city officials had been working out of the last two years, before visiting the new City Hall just hours after it opened its doors.
The 16,000-square-foot building across from the San Juan Creek Trail replaced 50-year-old modular buildings that had been meant to be temporary, but served as home for city staff for decades. The two-story structure includes meeting rooms, offices, other common areas for staffers and a large, welcoming lobby and front counter to assist the public with city business.
The City Hall project is unique, city officials said, because it’s been paired with a neighboring 50-unit housing project that, when completed later this spring, will offer a mix of affordable units. Veterans will get priority access to 10 of the apartments.
The public/private partnership built by Jamboree Housing Corporation is the first in Orange County to combine affordable housing with a City Hall facility, said Assistant City Manager Matisse Reischl.
“We partnered with Jamboree, who is building the 50 units of permanent supportive housing,” she said. “We sold them the portion of land they needed and the proceeds of that, they put into building this.”
The price tag for the City Hall and an accompanying Council Chamber project is $10.65 million, with approximately $7.9 million allocated for City Hall and $2.75 million for new Council Chambers, which were moved to the city’s community center on Camino Del Avignon in May.
The upgraded meeting facilities for the City Council were a one-year renovation that included a 1,000-square-foot expansion with accessibility upgrades, enhanced audio-visual features and renovations to restrooms and the conference room.
Reischl said it was important to the council and city staff that the new City Hall reflect the warm and friendly vibes of San Juan Capistrano.
It’s also how she decorated her office, which she showed off during a tour on Tuesday.
“It’s important to me that it feels like San Juan,” she said, adding that she grew up nearby in Dana Point and San Clemente, but was a student at the town’s Marco Forster Middle School.
Her office decor includes photos of her dogs, Max and May, who are both Korean Jindos. And, among other things, she has a Lego sheriff that was made for her by the Orange County Sheriff’s Administration Sgt. Nick Ross.
Ross also made one for City Manager Ben Siegel, displayed in his office.
Among his other pieces is an engraving of the city’s new seal carved from a historic tree. He is also showcasing a carved American flag given to him by the local Rotary Club and a historic map of the United States.
It’s been with him since he had his first local government job 23 years ago when he worked as an intern for the city of Encinitas, Siegel said. “My office was the copy room.”
Siegel commended the public/private partnership, saying it delivers a much-needed City Hall facility to serve the community, while also addressing affordable housing needs to reduce homelessness, all at a fraction of the cost of other options considered for replacing the former city trailers.
He called it a “win-win” for taxpayers and said its completion follows citywide road repairs and construction of new parks, “all of which highlight the City Council’s creativity in identifying cost-effective solutions to address community needs.”
Reischl praised the staff for working hard during the move to ensure the new City Hall doors were open for business promptly at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
“We wanted for people to come in and be able to do business,” she said.
Robert Morey, a local general contractor, also appreciated the new facility. He was there to meet with a planner on a project he has in town.
The fixtures and style of the building “kept with a San Juan theme,” he said.
While 90% of all the work at the new City Hall is complete, finishing touches will be added over the next few weeks.
The city plans a grand opening event once the residential units are up and running.
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