Location: San Diego, California Client:  Robbins Jorgensen Christopher Architects and the City of San Diego

Excitement was in the air when the City of San Diego announced plans to use part of its $78 million stadium expansion funds for the new San Diego Chargers Training Facility. But excitement gave way to nervousness when the project's ambitious construction schedule was revealed. No problem – Leighton and Associates and the project team were up to the challenge. Designed and built on a fast-track schedule, this impressive facility was successfully constructed in a six month fast track schedule, instead of the ten months typically needed for a project of this size.

Located within a mile of Qualcomm Stadium, this 15-acre site includes a 69,077 square foot building with 162 rooms, two 100-yard practice fields, and a 50-yard artificial turf field. The San Diego Chargers’ lightning bolt team logo was incorporated into balcony railings, a limestone reception desk and exterior hardscape paving.

Now considered the best of its kind in the country, the facility offers state-of-the-art athletic training for the NFL franchise.

Leighton performed exploratory borings throughout the site, into 10-year-old fill soils from a previous planned commercial development. These borings encountered fill soils with a thickness differential of up to 50 feet. Laboratory testing was performed on soil samples obtained during drilling to predict long-term behavior under the heavily irrigated turf grasses. To reduce the potential for long-term settlement of fill soils and to aid in the growth of turf grasses, a series of drains was also designed and constructed below the practice fields.

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