The Orange County Health Care Agency—which monitors public health in the Southern California county—will move to a new, larger campus in Irvine at the end of 2024, after the Orange County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $78.24 million contract for construction of the site during a recent meeting.
Unlike the health agency’s current office—on West 5th Street in Santa Ana—the new space will allow all of the key divisions of the agency to be in a common space, to work together more efficiently.
The new nearly 10-acre site will be on Marine Way near Irvine’s Great Park.
According to Ellen Guevara, a spokesperson for the agency, the purpose behind the move is to upgrade and expand to accommodate needs during an emergency and increase the agency’s capacity for serving the county.
The need for expansion was made apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, when the agency lacked adequate space for all its functions at the Santa Ana location.
The new two-story, 68,000 square-foot building will include administrative offices, a larger pharmacy and modern lab with up-to-date technology, warehouse space, disease control services, and an emergency management center, with 240 accompanying parking spaces.
Funding for the construction of the new location will come from the American Rescue Plan Act—a 2021 federal financial relief program following the COVID-19 pandemic—and state grants.
The counties’ contract for the site is with Canadian-based PCL Construction Services Inc., which has offices in Irvine.
After approval by county supervisors on Nov. 29, the project now enters an advanced design phase with plans expected to be made public in February.
