County Recognized as 2025 California Owner of the Year

Media
1 day ago
3 min read

Awards aren’t anything new for the County, but this one was a first. The County was named 2025 California Owner of the Year by the engineering and construction trade publication Engineering News-Record West.

The award recognizes agencies with a record of success with capital projects and a history of good working relationships with their contractors.

“Through focus on alternative delivery methods for construction, thoughtful design, community engagement, sustainable practices and integration of public art, San Diego County and its industry partners have raised the bar in the built environment.” —General Services Director Marko Medved.

Four public spaces were highlighted in an ENR West article that demonstrated these principles and strong industry partnership: Borrego Springs Library; Ohio Street Probation; Southeastern Live Well Center and the Public Health Lab.

ENR-West cited the Southeastern Live Well Center as a prominent example. The facility opened in 2023 and acts as a one-stop shop for a variety of social services.

The construction project was different from day one. The County worked closely with the community, local businesses and contractors to design and build the 65,000 square-foot center.

Residents chose the color, look, layout and public art. They asked for certain amenities that would improve the neighborhood. As a result, the Live Well Center includes a:

4,000 square-foot conference center that can be used for community meetings
Workspace for community organizations
Shared elected official office for meetings with the community
Play area for children
Wellness and meditation garden
Walking path to nearby Chollas Creek

The facility also reflects the surrounding neighborhood’s history, art and culture. Work by more than 30 local artists is on display at the site.

Local area contractors had a hand in building the new Live Well Center. In the end, 14% of the workforce lived in the community, nearly three times the original five-percent goal.

The overall project won the 2024 Project of the Year in ENR’s national Best of the Best Program out of 800 candidates. And now this year, the County has earned recognition as the 2025 California Owner of the Year.

“We are being honored for sustained best practices by an organization that keeps the pulse of the Engineering-Construction industry. We ask the industry for their best ideas and the community for what they need,. We start with solid design concepts that have been bolstered by the community’s energy and ideas into beautiful and welcoming facilities. Each building now reflects its local community which is a testament to public service.”—General Services Director Marko Medved.

The Live Well Center also boasts the environmentally friendly features that have been a standard for the County for over a decade.

So far, the County has built:

11 Zero Net Energy buildings that produce more energy than the building consumes over the course of a year.
70 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified buildings.
566 public and fleet electric vehicle charging ports with plans for at least 200 more.
3 facilities built with embodied carbon materials such as concrete with less cement, more energy-efficient produced steel and using wood in place of other materials.
16MW onsite solar on County facilities.