Construction at high schools to be completed by end of year
Leonard Kahn, the Lodi Unified School District’s chief business officer, said construction projects at two high schools should be completed and operational by next January.
“At Tokay, we expect to turn the gymnasium over to the school site at the end of May,” Kahn said Friday. “The classrooms, we expect to turn over to the site in September, and it’s still looking like December for Lodi.”
The district began improvements at Lodi and Tokay high schools last year, with the former getting 66 new permanent classrooms and having the portable classrooms removed.
Costs for the new buildings have been about $72 million, Kahn said.
A new stadium was built at Tokay and completed in 2020, and the school will have 20 new permanent classrooms this fall, along with a practice gymnasium.
The stadium cost more than $5.5 Million, and classroom and gymnasium construction last year was estimated at $25.5 million. Kahn said costs exceeded that estimate to the tune of $35 million due to additional site repairs.
“We’re very pleased with all the construction,” he said. “Tokay has been a little difficult because we’ve been working with tight spaces, and we’ve had to replace water lines, voltage lines and other utilities.”
Funding for the projects was made possible by Measure U, which was approved by Lodi voters in 2016 and authorized the district to issue $281 million in general obligation bonds for 31 renovation and modernization projects.
“We think both the sites, as well as the community will be extremely leased with the final product,” Kahn said. “I know the schools are thrilled with them already.”
Kahn said the district is looking at a February 2022 completion of improvements at Needham Elementary School as well.
Last April, crews demolished the school’s “old building” on the eastern side of 420 S. Pleasant Ave., to be replaced by a new multi-purpose room, kitchen and fitness room, as well as a new drop-off area on the Church Street side of campus.
Work also includes new electrical mains and upgrades, a new fire alarm system and emergency lighting, and a new public address system.
The project’s total budget is $14.1 million.
“The project is about two months behind, but the contractor is still promising a February delivery,” Kahn said. “If you go down Church, you’ll see the steel girders are in place and ready to go. It’s just a matter of putting up the buildings now.”