New York school building costs most in tri-state area

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It doesn’t take a math genius to see that those numbers don’t add up.

Two new schools in New York and Jersey City are similar in almost every way except the price.

In the Bronx, a 46,000 square foot extension of PS 33, which will add 388 seats, will cost $ 70 million. In Jersey City, a new 53,000 square foot school that will accommodate 480 students, BelovED Charter High School, would have cost only $ 12.5 million.

The bill for building the Big Apple is over $ 1,500 per square foot – a price that would be too high for a “fancy private hospital,” let alone a school, a source said. industry at The Post.

The tab in the Garden State costs less than $ 250 per square foot.

“We had a very nice building built for a very good price,” Jersey school board consultant Bret Schundler told The Post. The school is private, but its construction was financed by tax-exempt bonds.

Like the Bronx School, the Grand Street building was constructed with prevailing local wages and union labor, added Schundler, former Jersey City mayor and former state education commissioner. .

The annex of the PS 33 Tim Dwight School at 2424 Jerome Avenue in the Bronx would cost $ 70 million.

The New York City School Construction Authority was detached from the city’s Department of Education in 1988 to build new schools more efficiently. Authority works through “five-year plans” defining what needs to be built.

But a report from 2019 by the Citizens Budget Commission found that the way the School Construction Authority built schools was “expensive” and “slow,” using a different metric: dollars spent per new place created.

The Good Government group found that the average cost per new seat increased from $ 79,000 to $ 117,000 between 2005-2009 and 2015-2019. The 2020-2024 five-year plan provides for about $ 121,000 per new seat, according to the CBC.

The $ 70 million annex for the Bronx PS 33 costs more than $ 180,000 per new seat.

In comparison, the Jersey City school will cost around $ 26,000 per seat.

Annex construction site nearby, PS 33, 2424 Jerome Ave., Bronx, NY,
The $ 70 million annex for the Bronx PS 33 will add 388 seats. Each seat will cost over $ 180,000.
JCRice

“It’s very difficult to work with the city,” said Stephen Smith, co-founder of a real estate technology company, who first reported the dramatic cost differential on Twitter, The Post said. “The pool of entrepreneurs and sellers is not as large as in private construction. “

Both projects were put out to tender, although the city declined to say how many bids were received. Both projects included the cost of land, site preparation and equipment, which included items such as computers and furniture.

“The high cost of construction is a problem at all levels of government in New York City,” Smith continued. “And it doesn’t seem like politicians are interested in understanding these high costs.”

When presented with the cost of the Bronx school, a real estate official, who declined to be named, said that $ 1,500 per square foot was outrageous – and that the “only way” costs could be as high for a school if a public authority was behind it.

Annex construction site nearby, PS 33, 2424 Jerome Ave., Bronx, NY,
The construction bill for Annex PS 33 is over $ 1,500 per square foot.
JCRice

New York has some of the highest public construction costs in the world, in part because of “going wages” – under which any party bidding for public works must match union wages and benefits.

For example, a unionized carpenter in New York must be paid $ 101.88 in wages and benefits per hour, according to the municipal controller. In Hudson County, NJ, which encompasses Jersey City, the figure is $ 82.01, according to the state labor ministry. A worker in New York costs $ 92.13 and Hudson $ 59.95. New York labor rules often require additional job titles on a site, such as “oiler.”

But the official said the current salary would only be about 30 percent of the Bronx school’s onerous premium.

Another reason why prices in New York are sky-high: corruption. In October, a federal jury returned a guilty verdict against SCA contractor, Navillus Construction, for embezzling over $ 1 million from employee benefit funds, according to the ministry of justice and reports.

The SCA plans to build eight new schools starting in 2021 – many of which cost not much less than the Bronx example.

A 63,000 square foot addition to PS 97 in the Bronx would cost $ 57 million, or just over $ 900 per square foot. A 50,000 square foot addition to PS 97 in Brooklyn will cost $ 70 million, or $ 1,400 per square foot.

A representative from SCA, Kevin Ortiz, said in a statement: “Building schools in New York City, one of the most densely populated areas in the country, poses challenges that include additional costs of acquiring sites and environmental sanitation. We are committed to building and expanding schools to reduce overcrowding, increase diversity, and provide the infrastructure necessary to support educational programs critical to the success of our students while achieving the highest standards of quality and performance. security.



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