September 2002

Ran: San Diego Business Journal - September 9, 2002

Contractors Benefit from Boom in Campus Projects

Construction: Public Facilities Help Keep Industry Going in Slump
By Mandy Jackson

As students returned to school over the last two weeks, construction workers finished the last details on a few new San Diego County high schools.

With fewer private construction projects under way,public projects such as schools are keeping contractors busy this year.

The Poway Unified School District opened its fifth high school, Westview High School,on Aug. 26. The $51 million campus is on 72 acres along Camino Ruiz in Rancho Penasquitos. The school opened with 930 students and its capacity is 2,750 students.

The general contractor, San Diego-based Douglas E. Barnhart, Inc., delivered the project a month early.

Mike Derouin, senior project manager for Barnhart, said construction was sped up so the school would not have to open at the start of the second semester or wait for the beginning of the 2003-04 school year.

Seven weeks before opening, the school got power. Three weeks later, the water was turned on.

Barnhart's crew used fax machines at a nearby middle school to communicate with designers and supervisors off the site. Later on, a satellite was brought in for phone, fax and computer services. Generators were used for equipment that required electricity.

The gymnasium is still being completed, seats are being installed in the performing arts center, and the fine arts building is nearly finished.

Westview was designed by NTD Architects of San Diego.

"This school has got a lot more technology than a lot of other schools," Derouin said.

The school has video, data and wireless capabilities. "We wanted to go with as much technology as possible and the latest technology," said Poway Unified facilities development director Linda Williams.

Construction Countywide
Poway Unified is paying for westview with state funding and Mello-Roos taxes. The taxes come from special tax districts created by municipalities and school districts to fund infrastructure projects.

Another high school in Poway Unified is expected to be under construction in 2006. It could break ground sooner, depending on enrollment growth. A site has already been selected near 4S Ranch just west of Rancho Bernardo.

In the San Dieguito Union High School District, Barnhart is the construction manager for $10.4 million in additions and renovations at Torrey Pines and La Costa Canyon high schools.

Barnhart was the general contractor when La Costa Canyon was build six years ago.

The Sweetwater Union High School District, which covers Chula Vista, Bonita, Imperial Beach and south San Diego, has two high schools under construction in San Ysidro and in the master-planned community of Otay Ranch in Chula Vista. Both high schools will have the capacity for 2,600 students.

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