Why are there so many benches at the corner of 8th and Orange?
If you go to the corner of Orange Avenue and 8th Street, you will find a well-manicured plaza, over 15 benches and a large AT&T stamp on a building with few windows (vents) and doors. It turns out that this building is the AT&T Switch Center which houses all the switches and equipment to keep AT&T phone and internet lines operable. In 2008, the old SBC building was expanded to this location that includes cable rack, lights, copper based services, including DSL and HiCaps, a main distributing frame, fiber distributing frame, power equipment, transport equipment, collocation cages.
We noticed an AT&T van parked nearby and asked the technician if there were any offices or people that worked in the building and he replied that occasionally technicians will go inside to service the center and make adjustments/repairs, but that it does not contain any offices. He also noted that before AT&T was given the ‘go’ to start construction, they had to agree to create a plaza area that ‘fit into Coronado’s look and feel’ and prevented the center from standing out too much. It looks like they accomplished that requirement.
We have yet to see someone enjoying one of the many benches in the plaza, but it certainly looks a like a cozy place to read a book, or enjoy your lunch.
