Construction Notebook

Smith Consulting Architects, in concert with Serbia Consulting Group, a La Jolla-based corporate real estate consulting and project management firm, have been assisting two local craft brewers with their facility expansion projects.

White Labs, a micro brewery since the early 1990s, tapped Smith Consulting and Serbia Consulting for its newly purchased 14,400-square-foot building within the Mark II Business Park at 9495 Candida St. in Mira Mesa. The building was sold in the spring for $1.8 million and leased to White Labs.

The remodeling project involved design and build-out of clean room production facilities with steam, CIP, and compressed air; lab spaces; distribution areas; offices; and a classroom for educating about the craft beer industry.

The project was completed in July 2011.

With offices in California and Colorado, White Labs provides pure yeast and fermentation services not only for brewers, but also for winemakers, distillers and various fermentation businesses.

The company moved to its larger facility from a former location in the Miramar area.

White Labs President Chris White and company Vice President Lisa White provided project oversight.

The project team for the new White Labs facility consisted of Serbia Consulting as the project manager and Smith Consulting as architect/space planner.

Engineering services were provided by Pacific Rim Mechanical for mechanical/plumbing, Bergelectric for electrical, and Good & Roberts as the general contractor.

Todd Davis of Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial was the broker

Ballast Point, a San Diego homegrown brewing company, required increased capacity to meet growing demand for its beer.

The solution was doubling their facility to 23,600 square feet by expanding into the second half of its existing building in Scripps Ranch. The scope of work for the expansion project included the addition of a 3,500-square-foot cold storage room, additional fermenting tanks (photo), a new production line, as well as general upgrades to the building and site.

Smith Consulting worked with Russ Gibbon at the City of San Diego Development Services Department and Planning Division to achieve cost effective approaches to multiple project challenges.

“We were able to re-specify the uses per code, allowing the facility to be completely open and the view of the brewing process to be much more impressive,” said Mark Langan, vice president of Smith Consulting.

The project team for the Ballast Point expansion, completed in October of 2011, consisted of Serbia Consulting as project manager, Smith Consulting as architect/space planner. Engineering services were by Pacific Rim for mechanical/plumbing and Cooper Electric for electrical. Good & Roberts was the general contractor.

Established in 1996 by beer devotees Jack White and Yuseff Cherney, the company grew out of the Home Brew Mart, in Linda Vista.

RSI Roofing of San Diego has signed a contract with Vestar Management to perform roof maintenance at the Santee Trolley Square. RSI will work on six different buildings covering over 100,000 square feet. All flat roofs and shingle walls will have proactive roof maintenance done which will help prolong the life of the roofs.

“Our crews are specifically trained to perform work on jobs that have high customer traffic. Each building will be handled with the utmost in safety and professionalism,” said David Susi, president of RSI.

PrimeCo Painting and Construction of Oceanside has been awarded the contract to paint the exteriors of Colina de La Costa. The 84-unit condominium community is located in Carlsbad and is professionally managed by Kyle Kruger of Lindsay Property Management, also located in Carlsbad.

Board President Jan Richcreek was assisted by board members Roger Renkas, Alan Hayashi and Debbie Spence during the contract negotiations and contractor selection process.

Debi Palumbo and Ryan Muldoon, of Sherwin Williams Paint assisted the community with paint specifications and color selection.

PrimeCoís Octavio Partida will serve as the project manager for the community, assisted by on-site foreman Salvador Plata, according to Bill Butler, director of business development.

(AP) -- CalPortland Co., a cement and building materials producer, has agreed to pay $1.42 million to settle Clean Air Act violations at its cement plant in Mojave levied by the Environmental Protection Agency.

According to an EPA release issued Thursday, CalPortland also agreed to spend $1.3 million on pollution controls for dangerous emissions that can contribute to smog and childhood asthma. Officials say the plant is one of the largest emitters of nitrogen oxide pollution in the state.

The government's complaint alleges that the company made changes to its plant that increased pollution without getting a Clean Air Act-required permit and without installing necessary pollution control equipment. Kern County already has some of the country's worst air pollution.