Dist. 95 goes to court to recoup Loomis School roof repair costs

The taxpayers' bill is mounting with the discovery of structural problems at a four-year-old Lake Zurich Unit District 95 school.

Cost estimates for fixing the shoddy roof and wall anchors recently found at Spencer Loomis Elementary School in Hawthorn Woods won't be in for another week. The extent of the damage also is not yet known.

Still, miffed district officials are determined to recoup every penny from the builder, architect and contractors.

The district already is trying to recover roughly $2 million it has spent for remedial structural repairs at adjacent Middle School North to stop that school from sinking. That work was done last summer.

District 95 filed that lawsuit in January against Waukegan-based Legat Architects, which designed the two schools, Chicago-based Bovis Lend Lease, which oversaw the construction, and a host of contractors.

District 95 Superintendent Brian Knutson said Monday the lawsuit will be amended to include the Spencer Loomis repair work.

"It's one more page to add to the saga of construction issues," Knutson said. "At this time, it's a multimillion dollar lawsuit. It's not going to be over overnight. We paid for two quality schools. There's many nice things about those two schools, but there are many things that didn't go as they were supposed to. It infuriates all of us."

Neither officials at Bovis Lend Lease nor Legat Architects returned calls Monday requesting comment.

The companies have stayed mum since spring 2006 when District 95 officials first learned a portion of the $23 million middle school was built on unstable soil and its walls were cracking, merely three years after it opened.

The latest structural issues at Loomis School are indicative of a systematic problem with the entire construction project, District 95 school board member Jim Hussey said.

Hussey blames the then-school board and district administration for ramming through a more than $80 million project to build two new schools and renovate/expand Lake Zurich High School without proper oversight. That construction project saw huge cost overruns.

"Here's what happens when you do a huge construction project in a haphazard, half-baked way," he said. "We obviously weren't watching over these guys."

Problems also arose with the high school's field house floor and retaining wall that had to be fixed.

"It will be between $5 million and $10 million on top of the overruns of the original projection by the time everything is fixed," Hussey said. "Today, the taxpayers of Lake Zurich have a $100 million debt around their neck for two, really three somewhat less than perfect buildings."

District officials say the Loomis School repair work will be completed before school starts Aug. 26, and don't anticipate the need to move kids elsewhere.

"Our top focus right now is making the building absolutely safe for everyone," Knutson said.