The estimated cost of building a new career center on S. Walter Reed Drive is ratcheting up again because of unforeseen conditions at the project’s construction site.
School Board members will receive a presentation on Thursday on appropriating another $1.18 million in contingency funds for the project.
This is on top of just over $2.1 million taken earlier this year from the $8.32 million contingency fund, also because construction crews found unexpected underground conditions.
This year’s challenges stem from the decision, more than half a century ago, to use construction debris as infill on the site following the demolition of Thomas Jefferson Junior High School.
The middle school was torn down in the early 1970s to make way for the Career Center, located north of Columbia Pike along S. Walter Reed Drive. A replacement, retaining Thomas Jefferson’s name, was built on 2nd Street N.
The issues, according to a staff presentation, are threefold.
- Initial site assessment, including preliminary ground penetrating radar and select borings, did not reveal the full extent of subsurface conditions and obstructions from the demolition of Thomas Jefferson Junior High.
- Current construction revealed buried footings, foundations and unsuitable fill — conditions not anticipated in original site assessments.
- Unforeseen materials must be removed and replaced with structurally acceptable fill.
A vote on the appropriation will likely be taken at a later meeting.
The 1,600-seat, $175 million Grace Hopper Center is the most expensive school construction project in Arlington history. If the School Board approves the latest appropriation, contingency funds for the project will drop down to $5.09 million, with another year of construction yet to occur.
“While the unforeseen-conditions change orders were significant in cost, staff believes that based on recent projects, the contingency balance is sufficient for the remainder of the project,” school officials said in a memo to Board members.
The facility is anticipated to open in time for the start of the 2026-27 school year in August 2026. Students at Montessori Public School of Arlington, located on the same campus, are then expected to move to portions of the current Career Center building.
‘Ed Center’ project wraps up with $1.5 million left over
In a different turn of events, a $37.7 million conversion project at the former Arlington Education Center building on N. Quincy Street is concluding nearly $1.5 million under budget.
As of the end of the first quarter of 2025, there was just one invoice remaining to be paid, according to a school staff report. The project will convert the center for use by Washington-Liberty High School.
Funding for the project primarily came from $4 million in bonds in 2016 and $32.25 million approved by voters in 2018. School-system operating funds and reserves accounted for the rest.
Leftover funds have been transferred to the school system’s infrastructure and capital reserves for use on other projects, staff say.
The Ed Center building had for a half-century served as the school system’s administrative headquarters. Central offices are now housed in leased space on Washington Blvd.
