A California military command center is nearly 50 miles from the closest retail hub.

Marine Corps Air Ground Command Center Twenty-Nine Palms is remote. So remote military families would have to drive nearly 50 miles to Yucca Valley for one-stop shopping. Marine Corps Community Services (MCCS) asked Haskell to create a building capable of housing a department store stocked with a large variety of goods; a convenience store with a walk-in beverage section, barbershop, Starbucks®, GNC® and other vendor spaces plus a multi-choice food court. An all in one, easy-to-use facility that was environmentally responsible.

We made shopping convenient and provided more choices for stationed families.

Our solution was a 136,000-square-foot MCX that brings one-stop shopping to the remote command center. The large, open-floor concept provides an organized and welcoming shopping space. The building exterior, which integrates well with the surrounding desert site location and grounds, incorporates family-friendly walkways that link to an adjacent park and recreation area. The new MCS is truly a consumer’s shopping paradise. Incorporating all of this into a single facility with many restrictive standards was quite an accomplishment.

Earth-friendly features offer tangible benefits.

The LEED® Gold certified facility incorporated sustainable strategies and features that minimize energy consumption, conserve resources, avoid adverse environmental effects, provide occupant comfort and reduce total cost of ownership through a whole building, life-cycle approach. One of the most notable features — invisible to shoppers — is the rooftop photovoltaic system. Converted solar energy generates 12.5 percent of the facility’s energy requirements.