HMC Architects and Tilden-Coil Constructors celebrated the topping out of The Riverside County Office of Education’s (RCOE) new Riverside Conference Center (RCC) in Riverside, California. RCOE Board members and staff, construction partners, and community members were in attendance including Riverside County Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent of Schools Dr. Gomez and Dr. Ruth Perez, RCOE Board President Bruce Dennis, RCOE Board Members Elizabeth Romero and Wendel Tucker, Operational Support Services (OSS) Project Manager Jose Contreras, OSS Coordinator Jessica Mears, OSS Executive Director Matt Snellings, and OSS Administrator Lindsay Currier. HMC’s Hal Hart, Jeffrey Pitts, Nutan Patel, Julie Strauss, and Samantha Eklund were in attendance and signed their names to the building’s final beam to celebrate the construction milestone.

Inspired by the surrounding region and context, the 130,000 SF, four-story RCC is designed to relieve overcrowding at RCOE’s existing facility and provide 200 additional parking spaces for employees and public use. The flexible design considers both indoor and outdoor use and features a ground-floor café to service the conference center and outdoor events. Parking levels are sandwiched between the programmed uses, maximizing the allowable building height and taking advantage of the incredible vistas towards the adjacent mountain range. The design approach anchors the building to the corner of Thirteenth and Chestnut Streets with retail space at the street level. In the future, RCOE plans to close Chestnut Street to vehicular traffic to form a more cohesive campus-like environment to provide more services to the community. The current pandemic has shown how crucial leadership training is in making a difference in the safety of our campuses and students. In response, the center’s main meeting room, with space for 400 occupants, allows RCOE to host regional events and critical training for school district leadership, administrators and teachers. Construction will be complete in Winter 2022.