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Design team outlines General Services headquarters plan and site layout; construction targeted for late 2025
Summary
County architects and General Services staff presented schematic concepts for a new General Services headquarters at the Law Enforcement Center site, showed a vehicle-bay–centric layout and said construction could begin in fall 2025 with completion in 18 months.
General Services staff and the county’s design team presented schematic concepts for a new General Services building and associated site improvements, including vehicle bays, grounds storage and a training/administration hub.
Grace Boone, Director of General Services, said the county’s General Services and the James City Service Authority have outgrown the existing Tuning Road complex and that a 2020 space-needs assessment identified the need for a new facility. Via Design Architects and partner SQ Dumez were contracted in 2024 to develop concepts and validate program requirements.
Andrew McKinley, principal architect with Via Design, walked the board through site diagrams showing a roughly stacked plan: grounds vehicle bays, a facilities workshop, grounds storage, staff parking and a central area for administration and training. McKinley said the design emphasizes vehicle circulation and protection from the weather and showed a layout that would accommodate 100–165 staff parking spaces and multiple 60-foot bays for grounds equipment.
Boone clarified that fleet maintenance for heavy equipment and police/fire vehicles would remain at the current fleet maintenance shop and that the new site will house grounds equipment and facilities shops; fleet operations were not part of this phase. The architects also presented potential future phases that could add a fleet building, warehouse and fuel station on adjacent property.
Board members asked about schedule and next steps. Staff said the project is in schematic design; design-development work and cost estimates follow. The team estimated construction could begin in fall 2025 and last about 18 months, with occupancy expected in late 2027 or early 2028, subject to schedule and budget confirmation.
Why this matters: The new facility aims to consolidate dispersed shops, reduce off-site storage costs and provide protected storage for seasonal equipment, which county staff say will extend equipment life and improve operational readiness.
