California Air Resources Board Breaks Ground for New Riverside Headquarters
Published: 10/27/2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Oct. 27, 2017
Contact:
Phil Pitchford
Communications Officer
City of Riverside
951-826-5975
Additional contacts:
CARB: Stanley Young -- 916-956-9409
CARB: Karen Caesar – 916-799-7151
County of Riverside: Ray Smith – 951-955-1130
UC Riverside: Richard Chang -- 951-827-5893
Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce: Cindy Roth – 951-683-7100
California Air Resources Board Breaks Ground for New Riverside Headquarters
New $419 million facility will bring as many as 460 high-paying jobs to the area
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – City, county, state and federal officials gathered Friday near the UC Riverside campus to break ground for a new $419 million headquarters and testing laboratory for the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a project that is expected to bring as many as 460 high-paying jobs to the area.
“This is a momentous day in Riverside as we break ground on a project that will not just create quality jobs, but also attract additional attention from companies that want to be near the CARB facility,” Mayor Rusty Bailey said. “More than 60 years ago, UCR opened its doors and changed the face of Riverside, and this project continues the momentum of knowledge-based innovation in Riverside.”
Dozens of state, local and federal officials joined an audience of hundreds for the groundbreaking. In addition to Mayor Bailey, other speakers included CARB Chair Mary D. Nichols, UC Riverside Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox, Congressman Mark De Saulnier, Congressman Mark Takano, Congressman Ken Calvert, Sen. Richard D. Roth, Assemblymember Jose Medina, and John Tavaglione, Chairman of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.
CARB’s new state-of-the-art, 380,000-square-foot headquarters near the UC Riverside campus will feature one of the largest and most advanced vehicle emissions testing and research facilities in the world. The 19-acre site is on the west side of Iowa Avenue between University Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard.
“The Riverside community has welcomed CARB warmly, introducing us to the wide range of assets and resources to support our staff and our work,” Nichols said. “We are confident that we have found a new home in Riverside and look forward to moving our Southern California operations here when construction is completed.”
The new structure, designed to test the next generation of vehicles, continues the more than 50-year legacy of CARB’s testing labs that set groundbreaking pollution standards for cars and trucks, and uncovered the unprecedented diesel engine cheating violations by Volkswagen.
The decision to locate the CARB facility in Riverside followed an extensive effort to promote the advantages to having a facility in this location. The City of Riverside worked with the County of Riverside, Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce, and UC Riverside to make the best presentation possible to CARB.
“With CARB and UCR on the same campus, Riverside stands to become the global center of air quality research,” Wilcox said. “This day could not have happened without the partnership of the City, County, Chamber, community, and UCR that has really become the hallmark of how so many things get accomplished in Riverside.”
CARB chose Riverside in March 2016 after deciding that land owned by the University of California on Iowa Avenue near Martin Luther King Boulevard would provide the best opportunity for growth in the coming decades, and for collaboration with world-class air quality research already underway at UC Riverside.
“The choice to come here speaks volumes about the growing importance of our region,” Tavaglione said. “Through collaboration, we are able to welcome an important new partner that will benefit from nearby university research as it continues its mission to improve California air quality.”
“Today’s groundbreaking is the culmination of years of hard work, dedication and focus by our community, and represents a major victory for our region and state,” Roth said. “This success demonstrates that by working together, we can accomplish great things. Future generations will benefit from the critical work done by the California Air Resources Board and the UC Riverside Center for Environmental Research and Technology to keep our air clean and safe for all Californians.”
CARB and other state officials are in the process of choosing a contractor to design and build the new headquarters. Construction is scheduled to begin in February.
The headquarters will be LEED Platinum (the highest level of energy efficiency), and will also be the single largest net-zero energy structure in the nation, in terms of square footage and load, meaning it will produce as much energy as it uses.
Solar panels affixed to roofs, walls and over the parking area will supply at least 3.5 megawatts of electricity, and adjacent parking will include at least 120 charging stations for electric vehicles.
“Riverside has made a major commitment to sustainability during the past 20 years, and the CARB facility is very much in keeping with that commitment,” said Mayor Pro Tem Jim Perry.
Video of the event can be found at the City of Riverside’s YouTube or Facebook accounts at www.YouTube.com/CityofRiverside or www.facebook.com/CityofRiverside.
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