CSUN Raises Repair Estimate for ‘State-of-the-Art’ Campus

The bill to rebuild earthquake-battered Cal State Northridge will rise to at least $321 million, university officials confirmed Thursday, an increase from the first estimate of $301 million.

And the revamping will not be completed before December 1999--nearly six years after the January 1994 earthquake ravaged the 53-building CSUN complex.

The revelation came during a public meeting Thursday, when university officials accepted $74 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, bringing the total repair money transferred to the university so far to $283 million. The remaining $38 million, which FEMA has yet to formally approve, is expected later this year, said Art Elbert, CSUN’s vice president for administration and finance.

FEMA is picking up 90% of the earthquake repair costs while the state chips in the rest.

Elbert said the $74 million given Thursday would go toward constructing four new facilities--a $10.7-million Administration building, a $14.3-million Fine Arts building, a $7-million College of Health and Human Development and a $7-million computer center.

Elbert said the original plan was to repair the damaged buildings that housed these facilities. But that plan was changed after outside engineers advised that those structures could not be fixed.

Of the $74 million, the university has earmarked $13.2 million for “emergency contract work and emergency furnishings, supplies and equipment.” Elbert said that covers mostly furniture and fixtures damaged by the earthquake. The remaining $22 million will pay for fixing facilities throughout the campus, from an outdoor stadium to student buildings, parking lots and University Village apartments.

Elbert promised to make public a detailed breakdown of projects and costs today.

Meanwhile, CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson said the university will be a leading-edge educational institution once the rebuilding is completed in late 1999.

“This campus will have a clear identity,” Wilson said to a group that included more than a dozen students. “You’ll be so proud to say that you graduated from here.”

Wilson called the earthquake a blessing in disguise. CSUN will not only have a new campus, equipped with such technological advances as fiber-optic wiring, she said, but will have revamped departments ready to tackle the needs of the 21st century.

Wilson said her administration is trying to use the earthquake rebuilding to modernize the way the university operates. For example, the administration plans to create an alliance with the entertainment industry and provide new media programs integrating departments such as journalism, radio and television, engineering and management.

“We’re also looking at ways we service our students. We will have a one-stop facility at the administration to handle students’ needs,” Wilson said.

“This is a great opportunity to determine how we want to be teaching in the 21st century. Everything here will be the state of the art,” she said.