2025 West Best Projects
Award of Merit, Sports/Entertainment: San Diego Football Club Training Facility and Right to Dream Academy
San Diego Football Club Training Facility and Right to Dream Academy
Cajon, Calif.
Award of Merit
Submitted by AECOM
Owner Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation & Zephyr
Lead Design Firm Gensler
General Contractor AECOM Hunt
Civil Engineer Bowman
Structural Engineer Walter P Moore
MEP Engineer ACCO
Construction Manager TopOut Construction Management
Electrical Engineer Baker Electric; LPG Engineering
Delivered under budget and ahead of schedule in January 2025, this 125,000-sq-ft campus features a new 50,000-sq-ft sports performance facility alongside 10 existing hotel buildings that were renovated and repurposed for student housing. It also features five full-size soccer fields, including three natural turf fields and two synthetic turf fields
Work began on this fast-tracked design-build facility with only design development drawings. To maintain the aggressive 16-month schedule, key building systems such as MEP and fire protection were all delivered through design-build procurement.
Strategic sequencing accommodated long-lead items such as exterior cladding, Bermuda grass sod, elevators and hydrotherapy pools. The owner was able to procure a switchgear three months early, so the construction team modified the schedule to achieve permanent power well in advance.
The hotel buildings were originally built in the 1960s and will now serve as classrooms, housing and office space. But after mold and asbestos were discovered in two of the buildings, the team immediately developed and executed a thorough abatement plan.
When it came time to contract steel and rebar detailing, the contractor did so directly—an uncommon but strategic move that allowed fabrication drawings to progress before selecting the steel and concrete subcontractors.
