San Francisco—State and city officials today formally dedicated the San Francisco Civic Center Complex, including the new 14-story Hiram W. Johnson State Office Building and the seismically retrofitted Earl Warren Supreme Court building. The new 1-million square-foot complex will consolidate 18 state leases for office space, which will result in estimated savings of $500 million to the taxpayers over the next 30 years.

 

"This beautiful San Francisco Civic Center Complex will not only help to revitalize this historic area of the city, but it will be home to thousands of state workers and will return the Supreme Court to the Civic Center," said state Department of General Services Director Peter G. Stamison. "Equally important is the savings to taxpayers through consolidation of state leases."

 

Stamison’s comments came during a San Francisco ceremony attended by State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, State and Consumer Services Agency Secretary Anne Sheehan, members of the state Legislature and the San Francisco State Building Authority, and representatives of HSH Design/Build, Inc.

 

The $246 million project features the renovation of the historic six-story Earl Warren Building at 350 McAllister Street, closed after the Loma Prieta earthquake; and the finished construction of the Hiram Johnson State Office Building which replaces the state office building at 455 Golden Gate Avenue. The complex will house more than 2,100 state employees from 11 agencies.

 

The Earl Warren Building originally constructed in 1922 is one of several government offices in San Francisco’s Civic Center District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was closed due to earthquake safety concerns following 1989’s Loma Prieta earthquake. The 200,000 square-foot building has been renovated and seismically retrofitted, including the three-story Supreme Court Courtroom.

 

The 830,000 square foot Hiram Johnson building features twin atria rising 10 stories above the law libraries that bring daylight into the interior. Both the Johnson and Warren buildings feature a stately granite/precast concrete facade. The Prison Industry Authority supplied more than 500 modular workstations and several other office furnishings in the complex. Employees will begin occupying the Civic Center Complex in mid-January 1999.

 

The agencies that will be occupying the complex include the California Supreme Court, Administrative Office of the Courts, First Appellate District Court, Secretary of State, Board of Equalization, Franchise Tax Board, Department of Justice, Department of Industrial Relations, Fair Employment and Housing Department, Fair Employment and Housing Commission, and the Commission on Judicial Performance.

 

HSH, a joint venture of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP, The Clark Construction Group, Inc. and Hines served as the project’s design/builder.