![]() ![]() The asbestos removal also pushed demolition back from December 2020 to February 2021. Overall, including the hazardous material disposal, the old high school’s demolition cost $2.4 million. The cleanup process added an additional $498,600 to the total cost of demolition, along with another $300,000 when more hazardous materials were discovered. But before the building was ready for demolition, a follow-up inspection uncovered more asbestos in other areas, requiring abatement. The team then ran air filters outside the building “to make sure the air quality was good,” Jones adds. Specially hired subcontractors went in equipped with decontamination suits “to remove the material, properly bag it and dispose of it,” Jones says. Before demolition, a consulting firm found the existing school contained old fireproofing material and asbestos lined the walls, requiring safe containment and removal. ![]() “It just didn’t get everything,” Jones says. Officials did conduct a cleanup process of those hazardous materials while the school was still in use. “They knew they were going to have some in there they just didn’t know how much,” he says. The old Cohen College Prep was built in the 1960s, when asbestos, lead paint and other hazardous materials were heavily used in buildings, notes Barry Jones, a project manager for The Lemoine Co., general contractor on the project. ![]() About $28 million of those costs will directly fund the construction of the new school. The project’s total cost, including demolition of the old building, will be around $31 million, says Damien Job, architect with project designer Grace Hebert Curtis Architects. Of the 79 schools in New Orleans that were slated for renovation with those funds, Cohen College Prep was school No. So even though damage to the old building from Katrina was minimal, the district was still allowed to use recovery funds to construct a new building. Barry Jones, Project Manager, The Lemoine Co. “They knew they were going to have some in there they just didn’t know how much.” More than 16 years later, “it’s very exciting to see” one of the last projects that needed renovation to finish up, Cambria says.įEMA gave the Recovery School District the lump-sum settlement that “allowed the district to rebuild where the students and needs were instead of simply what got damaged,” Cambria says. Charles Street in between Uptown and Downtown New Orleans, Cohen College Prep is one of the last schools slated for renovations paid for by FEMA funding after Hurricane Katrina struck the Crescent City in 2006. The new gymnasium will be equipped with a full-size basketball court, two small cross courts that can be used for volleyball and retractable 450-seat bleachers. “It’s just going to be a nice place for community gatherings there,” Cambria says. The two-story, 250-seat auditorium will feature a small stage with dead-hung rigging, theatrical lighting and curtains and retractable front rows in case performance groups need more space. Two features that officials are most excited about are the auditorium space and a state-of-the-art gymnasium. The new building will be smaller at 104,000 sq ft to better suit the current number of students. The old high school was 150,000 sq ft, which officials said was too big of a space for the student population. Each room will be able to accommodate one teacher and 24 to 32 students. Some of those improvements include more accommodations for students with disabilities, including three “exceptional student” classrooms, an improved air-conditioning system, windows in all classrooms, which has a measurable influence on student learning, Cambria says, as well as a new 65-space parking lot that will reduce street parking.Ĭohen High’s new facility will have a total of 35 classrooms, including two performing art rooms and one visual arts room. The Recovery School District wanted to make “world-class” improvements to Cohen High that met Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design quality standards, Cambria adds. While Cohen High actually “didn’t really have damage from Katrina,” Cambria says, “there was very strong community support for including this project to update a facility that didn’t meet today’s standards.” ![]()
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