New Long Branch School Construction Will Begin This Summer

The construction of the Long Branch School District's newest school should begin this August.

The will be the district's first school construction project since the new Long Branch High School was built in 2007.

In August 2009, education officials demolished the old Elberon Elementary School to make way for the Catrambone School, which will be larger and built on the same site. The Elberon Elementary School was located at 240 Park Ave. and was built in 1969.

The school was selected for advancement as part of the 2011 Capital Project Portfolio, and the 109,000 square-foot, partial two-story building will be constructed on a 9.7 acre site and will accommodate approximately 800 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grades.

Terminal Construction Corp. of Wood Ridge, was the lowest responsible bidder for the project and awarded a $27.5 million general construction contract for the construction of the new school, according to Long Branch School District Facility Manager Ann Degnan.

"We are thrilled, because we have been working so hard on this for such a long time," Degnan said.

The School Development Authority (SDA) recently issued a notice to proceed with the project to Terminal Construction Corp, a development that SDA CEO Marc Larkins said will launch a new way of handling school construction projects.

“The award of this contract brings the Long Branch community one step closer toward their new school,” Larkins said in a release. “With our commitment to maintaining the project schedule and budget, the Catrambone project is advancing through a new way of approaching school construction projects in New Jersey."

The initial phase of this award will begin with a required constructibility review.

Degnan said the purpose of the constructibility review is to "eliminate unforeseen change orders.

"In the past, in any construction, once the project is started and an issue is found, they would discuss it among the group and come up with a change order," Degnan said. "Now they will take six to eight weeks to do the review and negotiate one change order."

Degnan said a change order may not be necessary, but that there is "always going to be something that comes up," during construction projects.

Larkins said the constructibility review will help keep construction costs lower for the project.

"Performing a comprehensive Constructibility Review prior to the start of construction will help avoid the type of cost overruns and project delays that plagued the school construction program in the past," Larkins said. "We look forward to celebrating future milestones with the Long Branch community.”

Once the review process is completed and the SDA agrees with its results, Terminal Construction Corp. will be issued a separate notice-to-proceed to begin construction activities including preparing the site for construction, removal of unsuitable material, remediating areas of concern and importing certified clean fill to be compacted and graded, providing footing and foundations, building shell, and completion of the building in accordance with the bid documents, according to the SDA.

Degnan said construction should be completed within two years, and should help ease overcrowding concerns at the district's elementary schools.

"We are over capacity at all of our elementary schools," Degnan said.

Since 2007, the district’s enrollment has increased by about 13 percent, from 4,785 to 5,441. As a result, space like the teachers’ lounges at Gregory Elementary School and Amerigo A. Anastasia School has been converted to classrooms.

When the original Elberon School was demolished, many students were relocated to the Gregory and Anastasia schools, causing the overcrowding concerns.