Sharp Rees-Stealy Kearny Mesa
Transforming an aging office campus into a centralized, high-performance medical destination
Sharp Rees-Stealy Kearny Mesa is a 96,000-square-foot adaptive reuse project that transforms a 1980s office park into a comprehensive outpatient medical campus. Located within the former Balboa Tech Center, the project consolidates multiple Sharp Rees-Stealy clinics into a single, highly accessible location with advanced imaging, primary and specialty care, physical therapy, pediatrics, and pharmacy services.
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Client: Sharp Healthcare
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Size: 94,988 Square Feet
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Scope:
Adaptive Reuse -
Services:
ArchitectureInterior Design -
Key Project Contacts:
From Office Park to Outpatient Campus
Sharp Rees-Stealy, a leading multi-specialty medical group in Southern California, sought to establish a centrally located outpatient facility capable of consolidating services from multiple satellite clinics across San Diego County, while avoiding the complex entitlement process of a new ground-up development.
The Balboa Tech Center presented both opportunity and challenge. While ideally located near major transportation corridors, the campus was never designed for medical use. Limited on-site parking at the front of the complex, a difficult-to-navigate rear parking garage, disconnected structures, and continuous patient traffic patterns posed significant operational and patient-experience challenges.
Turning Unknowns into Opportunities
Alongside Sharp Rees-Stealy and McCarthy Building, Cuningham lead a rigorous due diligence phase to fully understand the site’s zoning, infrastructure, and existing structural systems—each factor carrying implications for both opportunity and constraint.
By identifying complexities upfront, the team was able to plan targeted interventions and create detailed phasing strategies that preserved schedule integrity and minimized surprises during construction.
Accessible, Adaptable Patient Care
To address the site’s parking challenges, the team designed and located a new exterior elevator tower outside of the existing building’s footprint. With pedestrian bridges connecting it to both the rear parking garage and the clinical floors, this design intervention removes confusion, shortens travel distances, and frees interior space for care delivery.
