With the opening of its new headquarters in the historical Showley Brothers Candy Factory Building at Petco Park, Bumble Bee Foods is celebrating its roots in San Diego’s storied tuna industry. After months of constructing and designing a space with an authentic fishing industry feel, Hughes Marino Construction Management is pleased to reveal the end results.

Bumble Bee’s new space represents a 180° turnaround from its previous headquarters in Kearny Mesa. Instead of enclosed office spaces, Bumble Bee now boasts an open floor plan with smaller workspaces to allow for more amenities throughout. With a lunchroom that opens to an outdoor patio facing Petco Park, and a coffee bar on the second floor, Bumble Bee focused on creating more “living” space than “office” space for its team to enjoy.

The historical building’s original brick and timber structure has been left exposed, with walkways remaining polished concrete to give the space a true “fishing industry” ambiance. And the carpet that is used throughout the space? It’s made from recycled fish netting.

This was done partly because CEO Chris Lischewski wanted to pay homage to the history of the building by allowing its structure to be seen easily. He even chose a sliding glass door for his office, rather than keeping his workspace closed off.

Throughout Bumble Bee’s new office, you’ll find huge, wall-sized graphics of fishing boats and tuna factories, in addition to many framed black and white fishing industry photos from years past. Further, the Plexiglas dividers at either end of the lunch area’s banquette seating are filled with tuna cans. And custom furniture throughout the space was built using recycled materials from the fishing industry.

The end result is an impressive corporate headquarters, which truly embodies the long history of the Bumble Bee brand, while boasting the earmarks of modernity. The facility was built using sustainable materials and green building practices, and is pursuing LEED Silver certification.

Hughes Marino CM played multiple roles in helping Bumble Bee to relocate back downtown. From building selection to design and permitting to selection of the general contractor (Burger Construction) and architect (Interior Architects) to project pricing and more, we truly enjoyed bringing Bumble Bee Foods back to its roots with this one-of-a-kind downtown San Diego space.