Promised Campus Turns to Eyesore

A $9.7-million elementary school intended to ease overcrowding in South-Central Los Angeles has remained unfinished for nearly three years because of a dispute between the contractor and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Since construction was halted in June 1996, the half-completed school at East 42nd Street and McKinley Avenue has become a haven for transients and vandals, who have covered the bare frame with graffiti. Thieves have cut the fence surrounding the site to steal lumber.

School district officials and the contractor blame each other and the architect for the delay.

Angry residents near the site say they don’t care who is to blame. They are fuming that the facility, scheduled to open in the fall of 1995 as Jefferson Elementary School, is instead a neighborhood eyesore, a place where children can easily get past the fence to climb on the building’s frame and play in the open ditches at the site.

“Nobody is doing anything,” said Sarah D. Anderson, a retired city worker who lives across the street from the project. “That is taxpayers’ money being wasted.”

District officials say they are out $3 million in construction payments, plus $1.5 million more in damage caused by the partially completed school’s exposure to the elements.

The project’s delay is the latest black eye on the district’s construction program.

In response to repeated attacks concerning the handling of school construction projects, district officials recently agreed to give up the power to acquire land, clean up toxic sites and design and build schools, deferring those tasks to an agency yet to be named.

Most of the criticism has focused on the environmental problems at the $200-million Belmont Learning Complex near downtown. Little attention has been paid to the failure to build Jefferson, despite complaints from neighbors.

Although the district provides 24-hour security at the site, it is still an easy target for vandals and transients, said Los Angeles Police Officer Renee Muro, the senior lead officer for the neighborhood. “It’s a safety hazard, but no one seems to be doing anything about it.”

A Times photographer and reporter recently were able to walk onto the site through an open gate. A security guard emerged from a locked building nearby only after the reporter knocked on the door.

The school was to serve as many as 850 children. It was planned to ease overcrowding at nearby Wadsworth Elementary School, which is on a three-track, year-round schedule to accommodate all the students from the neighborhood.

“They need to put the school back here,” said Yvonne Webster, a fifth-grade teacher at Wadsworth. “It’s been this way for too long.”

Area residents were excited about the project when it was announced in 1993. “I was expecting to send my grandchildren to that school,” said Mary Robertson, who lives on 42nd Street across from the site.

In February 1994, the district approved a $6.2-million contract with Gentosi Bros. of Irvine to build the school on a lot that contained a small continuation high school and several bungalows. The high school was moved to another site and the bungalows were razed.

Gentosi, one of Orange County’s oldest building firms, had completed a high school project for the district only a year earlier.

The new school plans called for 28 classrooms, including seven for special education classes. The entire project was billed at $9.7 million, including the cost of land and equipment.

But work fell behind schedule, and in June 1996--when the new school’s first class of fifth-graders should have been planning their graduation to middle school--Gentosi Bros. walked way from the project. The firm complained about errors in the architectural plans, as well as last-minute changes called for by the district. Gentosi sought an additional $2 million from the district for the extra work needed to complete the project.

By then, Gentosi had completed the foundation, the frame and an underground parking garage. The firm had received about half the $6.2-million contract when it halted construction.

After Gentosi walked away, the district tried to collect on a performance bond from Gentosi’s surety company, Golden Eagle Insurance Co. of San Diego. But just as the district made the claim, Golden Eagle was taken over by the state insurance commissioner amid allegations of widespread financial mismanagement. The project has been in limbo ever since.

The unfinished frame is now weathered and weak from exposure. The portion of the property that was set aside for a playground is covered by weeds. Ditches and pits dug for irrigation and plumbing systems remain open.

The project is now the subject of a legal battle.

In a lawsuit against the district, Gentosi argued that, in addition to the design flaws, the district ignored the company’s request for information needed to correct those problems.

“The school district was not willing to pay the extra costs” needed to complete the project, said Frank Satalino, an attorney for Gentosi.

The district’s lawyers filed a cross-complaint, pointing blame at Gentosi Bros., Golden Eagle Insurance and DMJM Architects, the Los Angeles-based firm that drew up the school’s blueprints.

The district’s lawsuit said the delays were due to Gentosi’s own negligence. The district charged that Gentosi over-excavated the playground and made the pits for the irrigation lines too shallow. It acknowledged that the architectural plans may have been “defective,” but said the district should not be held liable.

A spokeswoman for DMJM declined to comment.

The district also accused Golden Eagle of breaching its obligations by failing to complete the school after Gentosi quit the project.

Golden Eagle was purchased in 1997 by Boston-based Liberty Mutual Equity Co. and renamed Golden Eagle Insurance Corp.

A spokesman for the new company declined to comment, except to say that negotiations are underway seeking to resolve the dispute.

District officials say they are also frustrated.

“The district is as unhappy as the residents,” said Beth Louargand, the district’s general manager for facilities. “We are trying to get it done through the performance bond.”

One of the remaining disputes is whether the school can be built using the existing frame. School officials argue that the frame has been weakened by exposure, and should be completely rebuilt. Golden Eagle believes some of the frame can be salvaged, according to district lawyers.

A court hearing on the lawsuits is scheduled for Monday.

Meanwhile, Daniel Franco, a factory worker who lives with his six children across from the school, suggests the district should at least repair the fence around the property to keep children out. “It’s dangerous for kids to play there,” he said.