With observed social distancing and the issuance of relaxed SIP orders, the County of Santa Clara (County) conducted its topping out ceremony at the Vietnamese American Services Center (VASC) on May 8^th, 2020.

During the week leading up to the event, several Santa Clara County officials signed the ceremonial beam. Although relaxed SIP orders allowed for the event, a large community gathering of approximately 400 persons that occurred at the November 2019 groundbreaking, was not possible. The County created a website that allowed individuals to “virtually sign” the beam by entering their name. During the morning of the event, County staff applied the “virtually signed” stickers on the beam.

The event was attended by Santa Clara Supervisor Cindy Chavez, a long-time champion of this project, who addressed the on-site attendees and the live-streamed audience.  Afterward, the beam was hoisted into place.

The VASC project is a 37,000 square foot, 3 stories, community services facility providing initial medical, behavioral and social services offered by the County to the underserved Vietnamese community. It is located near the intersection of Tully and Senter Roads in San Jose.

Swinerton Management & Consulting has been involved with the project since early 2018 and our services include Programming, Design Development, and Construction Document oversight, in addition to oversight of its 18-month construction process. Ribbon cutting for the completed project is targeted in Summer 2021.

Congratulations to the SMC Project Team: Project Executive Bob Kagiyama, Senior Project Manager Albert Wege and Project Engineer Parth Patel.