Renovated MOTCO Resident Office Gives USACE Team a Home Built for Collaboration
After a seven-month renovation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District has reopened its resident office at Military Ocean Terminal Concord in a fully remodeled Building 262, giving staff a permanent, unified home for the first time since the resident office was established over a decade ago.
The renovation, part of a project officially named the MOTCO Resident Office Remodel, focused on Building 262 and ran from January to July 2026. Crews refinished most of the building's interior walls, removed hazardous materials, installed new entry doors and signage, and built an entrance with a compliant accessible path to the parking area.
The building has a long history at MOTCO. Built in the mid-20th century, it has served multiple functions over the decades. Its most recent job before the remodel was serving as headquarters for the installation's police department, a role it held into the mid-2000s.
"The facility needed a complete rehabilitation," said Emmanuel Torres Reyes, supervisory architect and resident engineer for the MOTCO Resident Office. Police had used it as a tactical training ground, and it carried many of the same issues as the office's old temporary building. Access was limited. Some walls held mold and other hazardous materials. And the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems weren't built to support the number of staff USACE planned to house there. It even lacked a safe means to access the building.
According to Torres Reyes, the renovation allows the MOTCO mission to operate efficiently and house all required disciplines under one roof.
"Our main designers were sitting at the Directorate of Public Works building, the safety and unexploded ordnance staff had to work out of their cars or travel back and forth between J Street and MOTCO," he said. "Now the office is truly collaborative and issues that come up are addressed much quicker."
The design team included spaces meant to encourage exactly that kind of collaboration: a reading lounge, a plan review area, and a conference room for project delivery team meetings and both remote and in-person training. Cubicles throughout the office use glass panels instead of solid walls, a deliberate move away from the darker layouts common in older government buildings.
One detail Torres Reyes said doesn't come through in photos is the way the building welcomes people, from the approach to the entrance itself. Multiple changes in scale along the way are meant to make every arrival feel like coming to a real workplace. Lighting along the walkway shifts in stages, from overhead parking lights to shorter poles at the curb to bollards that illuminate sequentially as staff walk toward the entrance. The lobby ceiling runs nearly double height before stepping down as it opens into the office space.
"That is something not obvious in pictures but perceived in space," Torres Reyes said.
The main goal is to offer MOTCO employees a safe place to effectively and efficiently execute the mission.
“Staff can now pull together for plan readings, research code in the lounge, or work through a problem with contractors and stakeholders without leaving the building,” he said.
Even small additions, such as filtered water, a coffee station, a team wall and USACE signage throughout the building made a big impression on morale once the project wrapped.
"The importance and impact of branding and workplace design is often neglected. It plays a crucial role in employee satisfaction and productivity by instilling a sense of pride and ownership," he said.
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