After six years, students still await De Neve’s completion

  Daily Bruin File Photo De Neve Plaza, originally
scheduled to open in August 1999, was still in the early stages of
construction at the time this photo was taken in 1998. Delays have
characterized the project since its conception six years ago.

By Marion Wise
Daily Bruin Reporter

When many of this year’s graduating seniors entered UCLA
four years ago, they were greeted with the noise and inconvenience
of construction near Dykstra Hall.

As graduation approaches for these seniors, not only do the
noise and inconvenience of construction for De Neve Plaza persist,
but UCLA and the contractor for this project may enter litigation
as they debate reasons for project delays.

Third-year political science student James Shinbori said living
on the side of Dykstra facing construction during the 1998-1999
year was inconvenient.

“It was difficult because of the noise and the bombardment
of dust that we had in our room,” he said.

The project, designed to house 1,200 students, is intended to
help UCLA meet the needs of Tidal Wave II, the influx of 60,000
additional students to the University of California by 2010.

“I think it’s a great project that’s needed
for students. The demand for housing continues to exceed the
supply,” said Associate Vice Chancellor of Business and
Finance Sam Morabito, who estimated total project costs of De Neve
at $88 million.

Planning took place during the 1995-1996 school year, and the
university began installing sewage systems in fall 1997 for a new
housing structure to be completed in August 1999.

On Aug. 31, 1998, 19-year-old construction worker Jason Drass
was killed by a tractor-trailer, which delayed work.

  Daily Bruin File Photo Students live in four buildings of
De Neve Plaza, with the dining hall and computer lab still under
construction. That fall, workers completed the first stage of
construction ““ which included preparation work for the
building of structures. Also, the second stage of construction
began on both the building’s foundation and the outer
structure.

At the start of the 1998-1999 school year, Shinbori and other
students learned that De Neve would be completed and ready to house
students by the next summer.

“They seemed to be making good progress in the fall. We
had a lot of rain that winter, and it seemed like the rain delayed
the process,” Shinbori said. “When we were getting
ready to move out, it seemed like (De Neve) wasn’t going to
be finished.”

That school year, Shinbori participated in the Leadership Intern
Program, which teaches skills useful for future resident assistants
and program assistants. He said students at the program were asked
if they were interested in living and working in De Neve for the
1999-2000 school year.

“I know that they actually assigned people, and that would
later be cancelled,” Shinbori said. “Some of those
people didn’t end up being PAs.”

“The most interesting thing was that the time frame that
they told us was so far off what actually happened,” he
continued.

The main residence buildings were slated for completion by
August 1999, while the remainder of the plaza was to open in
January 2000. But completion dates repeatedly changed. The four
free-standing housing structures of De Neve finally opened on Sept.
24, 2000.

Last summer, students such as first-year history student Dave
Sheasby were concerned whether De Neve would be open for this
school year. Sheasby called UCLA Housing and Hospitality Services
on a weekly basis during the summer to check the progress of
construction.

“One time I called them up and they told us it
wasn’t going to be open and we were going to be living in
six-person rooms in the study halls of Hedrick (Hall),” said
Sheasby, a current De Neve resident.

“A week before we moved in, they said it still
wasn’t going to be open; it literally finished up 15 minutes
before we moved in,” he said.

The remaining two housing structures and the podium building
““ which includes a dining hall, lecture hall and computer lab
““ are slated to open in mid-fall or early winter 2001.
Housing officials hope to move students into these buildings as
soon as they open.

Glen Fichman of Campus Counsel, said UCLA’s dispute with
contractor Obayashi Corporation/R-Obayashi regarding project delays
probably will not be resolved until construction is complete. He
added that the case could go to court.

“Resolution typically occurs toward the end of a
project,” Fichman said. “At the present time, there
isn’t much resolved between UCLA and Obayashi.”

Though construction is progressing, students still face
inconveniences caused by the project. Sheasby, whose room in De
Neve faces away from construction, said the work has posed some
inconvenience.

This year, workers have focused on completing the podium’s
superstructure ““ the “skeleton” of the building
““ and the landscaping surrounding occupied housing
structures. Because current construction occurs in the central quad
of the plaza, students often have to walk around De Neve to get to
campus.

As compensation for the construction, Sheasby and other De Neve
residents receive free sodas and snacks from the housing
administration each month. Dykstra residents receive free
microfridges in addition to the snacks.

Jennifer Sharkey, a first-year physiological sciences student
who lives on the side of Dykstra facing construction, saw
considerable progress throughout the year.

“You can see the outside walls (now) and it’s
starting to look like a building,” she said.