Calif.’s City of Glendale held its official groundbreaking for the Beeline Maintenance Facility, which allows the City to have its first-ever co-located administrative, maintenance, and operations facility to better support its current fleet of 37 buses and nine demand-response vehicles. RNL, now part of Stantec, provided programming, master planning, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and lighting design through Bridging Documents on the 25,000-square foot project, designed to meet and exceed the State of California energy code.

“We are thrilled to be breaking ground on this transformational project,” said Kathryn Engel, Transit Manager, City of Glendale. “The City has many constraints on this site and the RNL design team was able to provide all of the functionality we required in a very efficient footprint — there is not an inch of wasted space. The new campus will help us to control operating costs while maintaining outstanding services for our community. RNL, now part of Stantec, utilized an innovative, interactive, and creative approach to make efficient use of the site while allowing for future transit growth.”

The Beeline Maintenance Facility’s contemporary design utilizes high-quality, durable materials, will include exterior sun shading for occupant comfort and energy performance, and is designed to mitigate noise. Sustainable design features include:

• The potential for on-site solar energy production.

• A convenient location with access to transit and bike facilities.

• Rainwater management, heat island reduction, and light pollution reductions.

• Water use reduction, water metering, and optimized energy performance.

• Indoor air quality, daylighting, and sustainable and healthy building products.

“For us, simply designing the various components of a transit maintenance facility doesn't equal success,” said Patrick M. McKelvey, sr. principal, RNL. “We also need to meet the needs of the people using the facility every day, while designing with community in mind. We are excited for this facility to break ground, which we designed to be a good neighbor to the surrounding community and to push the limits of innovation, operational efficiency, and sustainability.”

The facility is set to open in 2019.