{"id":273054,"date":"2026-04-17T19:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T19:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/273054\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T19:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T19:53:08","slug":"longfellow-rebuild-delayed-to-2028-as-costs-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/273054\/","title":{"rendered":"Longfellow rebuild delayed to 2028 as costs rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A three-story classroom building on the Longfellow Middle School campus is covered by scaffolding. Construction crews discovered severe dry rot in 2024 during renovation work. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight<\/p>\n

The reconstruction of Longfellow Middle School will be further delayed<\/a> to summer 2028, with maximum costs ballooning to about $80 million after engineers discovered \u201cunforeseen\u201d structural failures at the campus, school officials say.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) board on Wednesday approved an updated contract with Alten Construction<\/a> for the Longfellow Middle School Modernization Project, now with a completion date of June 22, 2028, about two years later than originally planned. The new cost is estimated at $72.9 million, plus a 10% contingency fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Students and staff were relocated to the district\u2019s adult school campus at 1701 San Pablo Ave. after Longfellow\u2019s main building was red\u2011tagged in June 2024 due to extensive dry rot, water damage and seismic deficiencies that were discovered during remodeling<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BUSD Assistant Superintendent of Facilities John Calise said the district initially believed the damage was limited to one side of Longfellow\u2019s main building, but further inspection revealed the entire structure and others were also compromised.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t have a choice but to delay the project,\u201d Calise said in an interview. \u201cIt took quite a lot of time to really understand the extent of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

BUSD said in 2024 that the school community\u2019s relocation was expected to last through the current school year<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before the discovery of the dry rot, the renovations were initially projected to cost about $22 million<\/a> with a 10% contingency. By the end of 2024, that price tag had risen to about $68 million. The project required \u201csignificant design revisions and expanded construction work\u201d that contributed to the delay, according to April board documents.<\/p>\n

Inspection of Longfellow\u2019s other buildings, including the library, administrative office, and gym, found more structural deficiencies resulting from inadequate waterproofing and long\u2011term water damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Calise said the renovation of each affected building became its own project under the Division of the State Architect, which oversees construction for K-12 schools in California. This required new engineering assessments, building redesigns and separate submissions and approvals, Calise said. All plans were then combined into one bid because different contractors legally cannot work on one site, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a result of the delay, BUSD also extended its contract with Vital Inspection Service to summer 2028, including the addition of a second inspector to meet state requirements for \u201cconstruction projects of this size,\u201d district officials said. The new contract is over $2.3 million, up from $497,640, according to board documents.<\/p>\n

BUSD leaders said all costs remain within the project\u2019s budget from the facilities bond Measure G<\/a>, which was previously approved by the school board. Longfellow\u2019s total allocation from that fund is about $90 million.<\/p>\n

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