LS3P prepared a masterplan that proposed consolidating all staff offices of the Department of Health and Human Services into one complex. For the first of two phases, LS3P programmed 450,000 SF of departmental space, and anticipates approximately the same amount of space for phase 2. Currently only one building for the first phase is being developed in order to bring together staff located on the Dorothea Dix property in Raleigh, which the State sold to the City of Raleigh. The proposed masterplan included the co-location of their Central Administrative Offices, all Divisions, as well as Support Services staff.

This project is on a strict timeline for Phase 1, where the campus has to be operating and move-in ready by summer of 2025, when the State’s lease at its current location runs out. This would be less of a challenge with a private commercial office, where decisions are made relatively quickly; being a State office, the project will be high-profile, strictly funded, and long lasting.

This project has been extremely collaborative and engaging to create a campus that is supportive of the employee’s health, well-being, and ability to deliver services to the citizens. The campus represents a desire towards stewardship of the citizens they serve and toward engagement within their new location. Just as their original campus was an integral part of Raleigh, there’s an expectation of bringing some civic synergy to their new location.