CSUN Repair Estimates Top $111 Million

In the first detailed breakdown of damage at Cal State Northridge from the January earthquake, a university consultant is estimating that repairing and rebuilding just 26 of the campus’ more than 100 buildings could cost more than $111 million.

Almost one-fourth of that amount, about $25.5 million, would go toward upgrading existing facilities or building new ones to comply with modern seismic safety and other codes.

Although not legally required to perform such upgrades as part of the repairs, Cal State and CSUN officials have said they intend to pursue that approach, particularly for heavily damaged buildings. But federal disaster officials have yet to detail how much money will be provided for that work.

Bill Chatham, CSUN’s associate vice president for facilities planning and operations, said the first group of building-by-building damage survey reports by Law/Crandall Inc., a Los Angeles-based engineering firm, supports prior estimates by university officials that total campus damages could exceed $300 million.

And Chatham said four CSUN buildings with the most serious earthquake damage--Oviatt Library, Administration, Fine Arts and South Library (now used as a computer center)--will remain closed “more than a year.” Engineering firms may take several months just to recommend repair techniques, he said.

If the final CSUN damage figure is in the $300-million range, as expected, the episode would become the costliest natural disaster ever for a U. S. university. With such high stakes, the university hired Law/Crandall, the West Coast operating arm of Atlanta-based Law Cos. Group, to manage the campus’ earthquake damage assessment process.

The result thus far has been binder-sized reports for each major building on campus that detail structural, architectural, utility and other damage, as well as detailing the likely cost of needed repairs. The university made the first group of reports available for review this week, and more are expected in coming weeks.

The largest single items within the $111-million figure are replacement and rebuilding estimates for two facilities that the consultant has recommended be demolished because of severe quake damage: $27.3 million for parking structure C that partially collapsed in the Jan. 17 quake and $24.4 million for the high-rise University Tower Apartments.

University officials said they have not decided whether to follow the Law/Crandall demolition recommendation, nor whether the two structures would in fact be rebuilt if demolished. The reports for the two structures do not estimate what repair costs would be if the university were to pursue that approach.

Also factored into the cost estimates for all 26 structures in the first batch of reports--11 buildings and the 15 dormitories that make up the low-rise University Park Apartments on campus--was a 20% overhead amount for “CSUN Administration.” Law/Crandall officials said the university instructed them to use that amount in the estimates.

For example, the university overhead accounts for $2.5 million of the $15-million estimate for Oviatt Library and more than $1.5 million of the $9.4-million estimate for the Fine Arts Complex--the most costly repair projects among the initial reports. Overhead typically would be the university’s costs for managing the repair work.

The estimates do not cover damage to movable contents within the buildings.

And the consultant cautioned: “It should be stressed that the cost estimates contained in this report are conceptual and preliminary in nature. They are useful in preparing preliminary repair budgets. Actual repair costs may vary from these estimates.”

Even if the actual costs are different, the Law/Crandall reports give an early indication of the financial implications for the university if it ends up simply repairing many of its 20- to 35-year-old buildings, or takes the costly extra step of bringing them into compliance with modern safety codes.

For at least five buildings in the first batch of reports, the cost of bringing them up to current codes alone is more expensive than making the actual quake repairs. And, as a group, the $25.5-million amount Law/Crandall projected for code upgrade work amounts to 23% of the total estimated repair costs.

With the exception of the already upgraded Oviatt Library, Law/Crandall assumed code upgrade costs for all of the buildings in the first batch. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency has said it will only fund such upgrades if structural damage exceeds certain levels. Law/Crandall did not assess the buildings using FEMA’s standard.

FEMA’s stance is crucial because the university is counting on the federal government to pay for 90% of the damages, with the state expected to fund the remainder.

“We’re trying to work with that right now,” Chatham said of the code upgrade issue. “That’s on the table. We’ll be months or weeks or longer talking with FEMA about it.”

CSUN Repairs

Following are replacement and repair estimates for selected Cal State Northridge buildings damaged in the Jan. 17 earthquake:

DEMOLISH / REBUILD

Cost of Building name code upgrade Total cost Parking structure C $4,636,800 $27,341,684 University Tower Apartments $4,401,810 $24,449,412 REPAIR Oviatt Library **None listed *$15,022,809 University Park Apartments $3,005,278 $13,262,931 (15 dormitories) Fine Arts Complex $1,852,480 $9,417,907 South Library $1,459,285 $4,868,877 Administration $2,041,525 $3,855,363 Sierra South $2,576,920 $3,709,132 Richfield Hall $2,416,580 $3,304,509 (Sierra North) Music $1,198,120 $2,577,362 Speech/Drama $968,476 $1,741,963 Physical education $1,004,288 $1,548,642 TOTAL $25,561,562 $111,100,591

* Preliminary estimate

** Building already remodeled and expanded

Reports have yet to be released for other major facilities, including the four science buildings, Sierra Tower and the engineering building, and scores of smaller buildings on campus.

Source: CSUN engineering consultant Law/Crandall Inc.