"We are pretty excited about all of the changes that will be built into the new office.  Recovering from the fire was not something that anyone would want to go through, but getting a new state of the art building on the back end will be nice," Veale went on to express.

There will be state of the art lighting in the new building, according to Jim Roberts, the claims manager of the Signal Hill office. "It should be good," he said. They are lights that cast light upward onto a white ceiling that then throws the light everywhere, creating a soft diffuse light.

February 2010 was at one time the goal for occupying the new building, but the insurance company took a long time with the investigation into the cause of the fire, which may have pushed that date forward.  The cause was determined to have been rooted in the electrical system in the building.  So, now there is no exact word on when the contruction might be completed.
 
The lease on the temporary office at 1680 Hill Street in Signal Hill runs through July 1st 2010.  According to Roberts, it wouldn't be out of the question if they stayed through the entire lease. 

The Tristar clients have been extremely supportive, according to both Tom Veale and Jim Roberts. A few of the clients handled by the Signal Hill office are Long Beach Unified School District, Memorial Health Services, and Long Beach Transit.

"The client base is stable," said Roberts. No large clients are going in or out. "No news is good news. This is a time when having really strong relationships with your clients pays off."

Although the Tristar claims system is paperless, there have been times since the fire that staff members have been challenged to recreate something.  "We frequently find that we need something and we don't have it," Roberts said.  "And we have to recreate it."