Marin Civic Center to Get a New Roof

SAN RAFAEL, CA -- After standing proudly for more than 50 years on its hill in San Rafael, the Marin County Civic Center needs a new roof. And this week, the County Board of Supervisors set the wheels in motion for the roof's replacement.

The 470,168 square foot building, designed by the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright, is the largest completed public project of Wright’s career and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. On Nov. 15, the Board of Supervisors approved a $991,000 design and management contract for the services of Wiss Janney Elstner Associates, a nationally recognized firm for architectural projects of historical significance.

The full project is expected to be completed in three phases over the next three years, carrying a total price tag of about $21.2 million, making it by far the largest construction project on the Civic Center since it was originally built in the 1960s. The seismic retrofit project following the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake cost $1.58 million. The original Civic Center cost about $14.6 million to build – $3.6 million for the Administration Wing in 1962 and $11 million for the Hall of Justice in 1966. The County spent $18.1 million on a new jail in 1994.

For the Civic Center to continue to stand the test of time, its 220,000-square-foot roof will need to be replaced, Marin says. After major roof repair projects in 1999 and 2000, numerous leak repairs have since been required and the iconic color has faded significantly.

The current roof, dating to the original construction five decades ago, has four layers of recoating and patchwork covering the original material. The membrane is now fracturing and peeling to the point that partial fixes will no longer suffice. The complete removal of the roof is most expensive part of this project but is crucial for fixing inherent flaws that have caused serious leaks over the years. In 2015, a section of the interior ceiling on the north end of the building collapsed into a hallway because of water pooling between the roofing layers.

The first phase of the construction project is scheduled to begin during summer 2017 on the shorter Administration Wing and the library dome on the building’s southern end. Summer 2018 should see the start of the second phase, focused on the longer Hall of Justice at the northern end. The third and final phase will take place in 2019 and address the skylight refurbishment.

Image courtesy of County of Marin