SpaceX awards design-build parking structure to Bomel Construction

SpaceX awards design-build parking structure to Bomel Construction; slab on grade completed, elevated decks progressing; 1,469-stall, seven-level garage will be completed in January

HAWTHORNE Calif., May 8, 2015––Space Exploration Technologies Corp., a Southern California-based company that designs, builds and launches rockets into outer space, has chosen the West’s leader in parking structure construction to create more spaces for its employees here on Earth.

Anaheim Hills, Calif.-based Bomel Construction Co. and architecture firm Walker Parking Consultants are working together to design and build a 1,469-stall parking structure across the street from SpaceX’s 510,000-square-foot manufacturing and command center in Hawthorne. The site is adjacent to Hawthorne Municipal Airport and just a few miles east of Los Angeles International Airport.

Derral McGinnis, Bomel Construction’s vice president of business development and pre-construction, said discussions with SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk and his staff to build the high-profile company’s first parking structure had been ongoing “since early 2012.” Bomel had a handful of worthy competitors bidding for the right to erect the garage. When it was time for a final decision, SpaceX turned to family-owned Bomel based on its superior ability to professionally produce a design-build parking structure safely, on time and within budget.

“We talked with all the big players who do parking structures and the numbers were super close,” said Bruce McHugh, SpaceX’s director of construction and real estate, and former owner of a general contracting business. “I pushed for Bomel because of their expertise with parking structures. That’s all they do is parking structures.”

Work on the design of the seven-level garage started last October. Bomel Project Manager Scott Lessard said foundation and slab on grade work was completed in mid-April. “Now that the slab on grade is done, the elevated decks will progress pretty quickly,” Lessard said. The entire $16.5-milion garage will be finished by Jan. 31, 2016.

The seven-level parking structure replaces one surface parking lot. The goal of the new structure is to eliminate the need for most SpaceX employees to be shuttled from off-site surface parking lots.

The garage will include a 100-foot-long pedestrian bridge spanning Crenshaw Boulevard that connects its fourth level to the SpaceX building. The method of construction for the bridge has yet to be determined, Lessard said. Another prominent non-parking feature will be found on the top level, where Bomel will put provisions for photovoltaic panels, a process it has executed at several other garages.

The site for the two-bay-wide garage is extremely tight: Hawthorne Airport, a fire station, Lowe’s home-improvement store and Dominguez Channel snugly surround it. “The parking structure’s footprint is right up against the property line on three sides,” Lessard said.

SpaceX has occupied its current compound, the former home of Northrup Aircraft, since 2007. With approximately 3,000 employees, the company has no plans to move. Last August, SpaceX set a lease-termination date of 2023, with two five-year renewal options.

Established in 2002, SpaceX represents a new era in space technology for the United States. SpaceX is a commercial company commissioned by NASA to send supplies and equipment in a capsule propelled by a SpaceX-built rocket to the International Space Station orbiting Earth, a mission it has successfully accomplished multiple times.

About Bomel Construction Co.: Established in 1970, Anaheim Hills, Calif.-based Bomel Construction is widely regarded as the dean of parking structure construction in the West. The family-owned business generated $135 million in total revenue in 2014. In addition to SpaceX, it’s other current high-profile parking structure projects include Alameda Square (3,884 stalls), Del Amo Fashion Center (1,950), Cal Poly Pomona (1,825), Village at Westfield Topanga (1,665), Outlets at San Clemente (1,167) and the Citadel Outlets (1,004), with several other parking structures set to begin construction this year. Bomel Construction, a design-build concrete contractor, has completed major parking structures for developers and owners of many of the largest shopping malls, casinos, stadiums, high-rise office buildings, colleges and universities throughout the West. Bomel has regional offices in Carlsbad, Calif., and Las Vegas.

For more information, please contact Paul Napolitano at 626-852-9959 or paul@napolitanocommunications.com.