In its final meeting before the district’s spring break, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education approved several major construction items, with much of the discussion centered around the future layout of Santa Monica High School.
During the meeting, the board approved of the plan to demolish Samohi’s South Gym this summer, along with related post-demolition work within the Measure SMS-funded Exploration and Gold Gym project. The project amendment with an increase of $6.98 million revises the total contract amount with McCarthy Building Companies to just over $134 million. Post-demolition work includes installing a storm water retention structure, an outdoor class turf for yoga, fitness and physical education courses, as well as installation of three new basketball courts and new bleachers, accommodating approximately 2,000 spectators.
The additional scope of work for the Exploration and Gold Gym project will not extend the anticipated completion date for the buildings, which are scheduled to be done by June (Gold Gym) and July (Exploration Building).
Another board approval was assigning CY Architects to provide architectural and engineering design services for Samohi’s interim repairs and upgrades project in an amount not to exceed $85,000. The services are a number of smaller, miscellaneous projects as part of the Samohi Campus Plan, including the complete design and approval of the Barnum Hall lobby window replacement project, including historical registry compliance with historical consultants.
In the presentation by district operations staff, including Chief Operations Officer Carey Upton, it was noted that the windows above the awning as people enter Barnum Hall are not supporting the glass “as well as it used to,” necessitating a replacement of the window system that dates back to 1936. Staff stated that they have to go through a “historically sensitive” process on this endeavor.
Other near-term projects for Samohi include designing a storm drainage project to mitigate potential flooding into Barnum Hall, developing bid packages for a campus-wide security system upgrade, and providing construction support for a wayfinding signage project which will update campus signage to reflect new buildings.
The third major action item was for the Santa Monica Alternative School House (SMASH) and John Muir Elementary School campus, approving a contract amendment with Blach Construction Company on the campus’ water intrusion repair project. The new amendment includes necessary seismic retrofitting, water remediation and reconstruction efforts for campus buildings A, B, C and D.
Upton and staff explained that the project is more expensive than initially anticipated due to additional scope for water remediation, as well as structural and seismic upgrades. However, the team is confident that the cost of the project will not increase from here on out, as the demolition process on the campus has “given them confidence” in what exactly is needed.
“[Contractors] can [now] see things that they couldn’t see,” Upton said. “A lot of times, the cost is driven up by unforeseen things, well, we can see a lot of it.”
The project encompasses a complete overhaul of roofing systems, stucco, windows, doors and interior finishes, after the campus was closed in fall of 2022 due to interior drywall and mold issues. The SMASH and John Muir endeavor is anticipated to be completed by August 2025, allowing the campus to reopen for students.
Several of the discussed projects fall under Measure SMS funding, a $485 million general obligation bond passed in November 2018 with 72% support from local voters. The combined total and future commitments across the district from Measure SMS projects are equal to just over $495 million, currently a little over $10 million over the budgeted amount, however staff states that $4 million in state funding and $7 million in accrued interest on the bond will cover the remaining costs.
“With the anticipated state funding and anticipated interest, we anticipate that we will be able to cover the [current costs], which means … if nothing goes wrong, we will not be going over budget and we will not be coming back for future authorization or further borrowing,” staff noted.