As with most businesses operating in downtown San Diego, parking for Hughes Marino employees has always come at a premium. Naturally, as our company has grown, we’ve needed additional space to accommodate our larger team. As such, more than a year ago, we began the process of constructing a new parking lot. We chose to purchase a building in grave disrepair behind our existing office and have it torn down in order to make way for parking. Seems straightforward, right? We weren’t constructing a new building; we were merely tearing down an old one to create a surface area parking lot for our employees.

For our Construction Management team, this was one of the simplest projects we’ve managed in recent memory. However, when it comes to construction, simple does not always equate to swift. Even small projects like our 13 space parking lot require a conditional use permit from the city, which can take up to a full year to obtain.

However, in spite of the delays, we’re happy to report that our new parking lot is complete. In addition to the 13 spaces for employee parking, my colleague and basketball fanatic, Shane Poppen, suggested we add a basketball hoop, which we did. We also did a bit of landscaping around the new parking lot for aesthetic purposes (and for employees who bring their dogs to work on occasion).

Here is a look at the final project, and we are very pleased with the result. The wait was definitely worth it, but I advise anyone considering a similar project to remember that when it comes to dealing with permits, patience is a virtue.