Latitude 33 Celebrates Grand Opening of City of San Diego Fire Station 52 at Torrey Pines
San Diego, CA, October 29, 2024 – On October 17, 2024, Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering joined officials from The City of San Diego, UC San Diego, The Muller Hull Partnership, Level 10 Construction, and other stakeholders at a Grand Opening ceremony for San Diego Fire Station 52 (also known as the Torrey Pines Fire Station). Speakers included: City of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Council President Pro Tem Joe LaCava, UC San Diego Chancellor Dr. Pradeep K. Khosla, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department Chief Robert Logan, and University City Community Association President Jemma Samala. Helping to meet the City of San Diego’s efficiency goals, Fire Station 52 is the City’s first Net Zero station, and home to San Diego’s first all-electric fire apparatus and a rapid electric vehicle charging station. Located on North Torrey Pines Road near North Point Drive, Fire Station 52 will greatly improve emergency response times by addressing a service area gap in the University City region, and will allow for future growth in the vicinity.
At the Grand Opening ceremony, Mayor Todd Gloria from the City of San Diego, stated, “We’re all better off when both levels of government are working together: The UC and State government, along with the City of San Diego. In this case today, it’s about public safety here in the Torrey Pines Mesa… The life sciences and innovation sector/economy that is concentrated in this community is growing and thriving, and importantly, we need to make sure we keep up with that growth.”
UC San Diego Chancellor Dr. Pradeep K. Khosla stated, “This project exemplifies what can be achieved through strong collaboration and community partnership, particularly between the city of San Diego and UC San Diego. By prioritizing safety, it reaffirms UC San Diego’s commitment to enhancing the well-being of our neighborhood, our city, and our entire region.”
Fire Station 52
The 14,000-square-foot Fire Station 52 is the result of a partnership between the City of San Diego and UC San Diego. The state-of-the-art, sustainable facility features three apparatus bays, sleeping quarters for nine personnel, two offices, an exercise room, a kitchen, a “ready” room, and 18 on-site parking stalls. Street and traffic improvements were also implemented along Torrey Pines Road to provide emergency vehicle access. Honoring the regional landscape, crews recently installed a 19-foot-tall Torrey Pine, the rarest pine in the United States with only a few thousand trees growing wild along the coast in northern San Diego County. The estimated cost of the development including street improvements is $22.2 million.
Sean Drake, PE, QSD, Associate at Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering, says, “It’s humbling to think about the history of this specific fire station and what it means to this community. Latitude 33 helped in the pre-planning of this fire station, roughly 10+ years ago, then in late 2020 joined the Level 10/Miller-Hull design-build team to pursue the project. Now in late 2024, seeing the finished product, we are proud to witness such a satisfying conclusion representing efforts from so many people to make this project a success. We’re honored to be a part of developing fire station facilities that serve the specialized needs of first responders and make our communities safer. We look forward to seeing the Torrey Pines Fire Station become a pillar of the University City community, and an icon of sustainability.”
Fire Station Expertise
In addition to providing civil engineering services for Fire Station 52, Latitude 33 has helped develop several new fire stations in the region. The firm recently partnered with STK Architecture and Cox Construction Co. to complete Oceanside Fire Station 1, which opened on July 15, 2024. For this 30,000-square-foot facility, Latitude 33 provided surveys, site design, grading plans, public improvement plans, storm water quality management plan, construction support & staking, and project coordination. Latitude 33 is also part of the development team for the upcoming new Oceanside Fire Station 8. The new, two-story station will be nearly 20,000 square feet, and is designed to serve Oceanside for the next 75 years.
About Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering
Founded in 1993 and headquartered in San Diego, Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to design. The firm provides public sector planning, land use planning, public outreach, entitlement services, civil engineering design, and surveying/mapping to public agencies, developers, and property owners. The firm’s breadth of expertise includes aviation, life sciences, residential, education, healthcare, military, commercial/retail, civic, hospitality, and design-build projects. Thirty-five percent of the engineers at Latitude 33 are women. For more information, visit latitude33.com.
