With the expansion and repurpose of an existing 98,000-sq-ft Aerojet facility built in 1985, nonprofit OneLegacy now has the capacity and resources necessary to continue its work as the largest organ, eye and tissue recovery organization in the world. In addition to housing administrative and clinical operations needs, the campus also includes a large conference and training center.

OneLegacy acquired the 4.45-acre property in 2019. The project team completed major renovations to 98,000 sq ft within a three-story commercial building and completed ground up construction of an additional 60,000 sq ft of clinical and conference space, a rooftop helicopter landing pad as well as an above-grade, four-story, 460-car parking structure.

OneLegacy was consolidating several varied operational units into a single campus. An organ recovery and research facility of this size had never been contemplated, designed or built. The project team did not have a blueprint, and all aspects of OneLegacy’s operations had to be thoroughly analyzed and translated into a building program.

Photo by Martin King Photography

Although the initial budget was about 20% higher than expected, preconstruction efforts honed the design to reign in costs. Additionally, a strict timeline set completion for September 2022, which drove the team to split work across four phases. Design was not finished until February 2021, but the phasing of drawings, permitting and construction saved eight months on the schedule.

Before grading began, underground investigations to identify utilities and obstructions uncovered large boulders buried throughout the site. Furthermore, all soil and rocks were deemed environmentally sensitive and could not leave the site. PNG came up with a plan to mobilize a rock crusher on site and use the crushed material as fill and aggregate, which ended up saving the client about $500,000.

The new building’s rooftop also houses a helipad for rapid transportation of surgical teams and donated organs. As one of the largest and most sophisticated transplant recovery centers in the country, the facility has dramatically improved the ability to serve the surrounding community of nearly 20 million people.