San Marcos breaks ground on new Public Services Center

The City of San Marcos broke ground on its new Public Services Center, which will be located on Clovis Barker Road. 

The city’s newest development will provide the community a modernized and central location for public utilities, transportation operations, fleet operations and infrastructure services. 

“We incorporated growth forecasts into the design of this building to ensure it will meet our needs as our community and service levels continue to grow,” Director of Public Services Tom Taggart said in a statement. “The facility site plan includes additional expansion opportunities in preparation to serve the projected 2035 city population of 110,000 residents and beyond.”

The city stated in a news release on Wednesday that its current facilities have exceeded capacity for staffing, fleet vehicles, working warehouse area and materials storage. Nearly 250 city employees will work from the new Public Services Center, which includes staff from electric, traffic, transit, general services, transportation, water, wastewater, stormwater, facility maintenance and conservation teams. 

Additionally, the new center will have sustainable design features, which were requested by the San Marcos City Council. Two buildings will include 500-kilowatt solar energy panels. There will be four 18,000-gallon rainwater capture cisterns, high recycled content building materials and low-flow plumbing fixtures. 

Construction completion and occupancy is scheduled for late 2021, the city said. The center’s total design-construction costs are estimated at $44 million and being funded through certificates of obligation. The city is working on the project with Hunt Companies, Lawrence Group, Flintco, LLC and Jacobs Project Management Company.