INDIO – Only nine months after breaking ground in late 2024, progress on the new Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) Indio Conference Center was celebrated with a Topping-Out Ceremony on Friday, August 15, with the ceremonial signing of the final beam.
Construction on the 33,000-square-foot space is on schedule to open in the summer of 2026 when it will begin hosting a wide variety of educational events, trainings, competitions, conferences, and more. The new facility provides a desert-area solution for students, teachers, and educators in the Greater Coachella Valley who regularly log thousands of miles and hours of travel time for activities hosted more than 50 miles away in western Riverside County.
Located at 47-100 Calhoun Street (directly adjacent to an existing RCOE Administrative Center), the new facility represents a continued investment in learning facilities for the desert region.
“The best way to shape the future is to build it, and this new facility is being designed with the intention to support learning, encourage innovation, and strengthen the connections between education and the community,” said Riverside County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Edwin Gomez. “In order to produce world-class students, it requires world-class facilities like this, and we are thankful for everyone who is helping bring this vision to life.”
The development of the RCOE Indio Conference Center project was prompted by the popularity of the new RCOE Conference Center in downtown Riverside, which has hosted more than 2,500 events and 100,000 people since opening its doors in the summer of 2022.
With input from end users in Indio and Riverside, the facility features include:
- 6,000 square feet of configurable meeting space
- Large conference space available to host up to 375 occupants with configurable breakout rooms
- 22 offices and open workspace for 30 staff members
- 290 parking spaces, including nearly 100 covered with solar canopies
- Warehouse and community space
- Walking trail and covered connection to existing RCOE-Indio facility
The facility was designed by DLR Group with Erickson-Hall serving as the lead construction partner.
About the Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE)
RCOE is a service agency supporting the county’s 23 school districts and 500+ schools that serve nearly 430,000 students—more than the student population of 17 states. RCOE services include administrative support to districts and charter schools, programs for preschool, special education, pregnant minor, correctional, migrant, and vocational students. In addition, the organization provides professional training, support, and resources for more than 18,000 teachers, administrators, and staff, throughout the 7,000 square miles of Riverside County. Learn more at www.rcoe.us.
