Study: Renovating Warwick High in Newport News would cost at least $83.7M
NEWPORT NEWS — An architecture firm says Newport News schools could expect to spend at least $83.7 million to do a major renovation of or replace Warwick High School in the next decade.
The city’s third-largest high school, built in 1968, has maintenance issues that will cost as much as $13 million in next five years. District staff anticipate a renovation could happen around the 2026-27 school year.
Finding the money for that is a daunting task, and Superintendent George Parker said they want to start planning now. The School Board and City Council have disagreed on funding for Huntington Middle School, which closed in 2018.
The board voted unanimously Tuesday to pass a capital improvement plan seeking $50 million to build a new Huntington next fiscal year. But the city’s proposed plan includes only $40 million in fiscal year 2023.
“We would have to have some serious conversations with our counterparts at the city level prior to making that happen, because we know how difficult it is sometimes to get funding aligned for those types of projects,” Parker said at a work session where the Warwick report was presented.
In 2017, a district-wide survey found Warwick and Huntington needed to be replaced in the next decade. Huntington, a landmark in southeast Newport News, closed the next year.
The current plan — a campus with possibly a new library, community center or YMCA — has the tacit support of the board and City Council. But funding is still up in the air. The five-year plan approved by the board Tuesday sets aside $50 million. The
district expects construction to cost about $45.6 million, including $3.2 million for razing the existing building.
The school would hold about 600 students. An enrollment study presented to the board Tuesday estimated that about 700 middle school students live in the school’s attendance zone, with 100-150 attending other middle schools each year. The number of students in the zone is expected to stay steady over the next five years.
There were 11 middle school construction projects awarded the last five school years in Virginia, according to data collected by the Virginia Department of Education, with an average cost of $40.8 million. However, most of those are new construction.
City Manager Cindy Rohlf ’s proposed capital plan budgets $40 million for the project, up from $37 million approved last year when the board also asked for $50 million.
The City Council approves a five-year plan plan annually for capital projects across the city. Other parts of the schools’ request include $5.9 million in fiscal year 2024 for an addition to Riverside Elementary School. The board is also seeking $10.1 million for HVAC replacements and $4.8 million for roof replacements.
Neither plan includes Warwick, which is likely still six or seven years away.
The School Board commissioned the report presented Tuesday from Maryland architecture firm Grimm and Parker as part of its CIP process this year. Warwick’s roof and HVAC system are past due for replacement and are included in the capital plan, and district staff said they wanted
to consider what would go into a renovation before putting those items on the plan.
“When we toured the building, it was very obvious, very clear, that it really has served its useful life,” said Paul Klee, design principal with Grimm and Parker. “It has been a great institution for the Newport News community, but even when we design schools now, their life expectancy is 50-60 years maximum.”
It’s small for its current enrollment, a little over 1,600 last year. The average classroom is over 100 square feet smaller than state guidelines. The gym can hold only about half of the student body, and the school relies on older students leaving campus for lunch to fit everyone in the cafeteria.
The school’s roof has problems
with leaks and water pooling. Some rooms have asbestos tiling. There are multiple plumbing leaks, posing a mold risk, and some spaces don’t meet current building codes or Americans with Disability Act requirements.
The report made recommendations assuming an enrollment of 1,800 students, which would require a roughly 300,000-squarefoot building. The current building is about 200,000 square feet.
A major renovation is the cheaper option at $83.7 million, which includes expected inflation in the next five years. Keeping the school running during construction would be difficult; students might have to take classes in portable classrooms.
A full, three-story replacement would cost over $115 million. The report said that a more energy efficient building would have a lower long-term cost and have a less confusing floor plan than a renovation, and the cost of building a new building tends to be more predictable than a renovation.
Parker said that they will likely start talking in more detail with the city about what a renovation or replacement would look like when it addresses funding for the roof and HVAC system in a couple of years.
“Once we get to those items in future years, wewill want to engage the city in conversation regarding a time for renovation, the cost for renovation, maybe another study to look at what that renovation would entail,” Parker said.