Newport News officials report Huntington Middle School on track for June 2026 substantial completion

City and school officials on Sept. 23 updated the Newport News City Council and School Board on construction at Huntington Middle School and the adjacent recreation center, saying the middle school is on track for substantial completion in June 2026 and the recreation center in August 2026.

Craig Gallant, director of engineering for the City of Newport News, told the joint work session that contractors began work after a notice to proceed in June and are currently about 36–37% complete on both facilities. "The middle school itself is 123,000 square feet, approximately. The rec center is just a little bit over 97,000 square feet," Gallant said. He added that the project was awarded as a single contract but that the contractor is using two teams — one for each facility — which is why percent-complete figures for both buildings look similar even though the school has priority.

The project budget figures presented at the meeting list the school at $77,000,000 and the recreation center at $67,000,000. Gallant said change orders to date total roughly 2.4% for the school and 1.5% for the recreation center.

Gallant identified several critical-path items that remain. Bringing power to the site and installing a transformer are the responsibility of Dominion (Dominion Energy); Gallant said Dominion has procured the transformer and that the utility was expected to deliver design information to the contractor this week. He also listed stormwater infrastructure and the structural steel assemblies for both buildings as key sequencing items. The city is holding construction progress meetings every two weeks and coordinating finishes, furnishings and equipment work with school staff so the school system has time to "button it up" before the start of classes.

Site issues discovered during early work included three underground storage tanks on the footprint planned for the recreation center. "We ran into 3 buried storage tanks on the site," Gallant said; crews removed and remediated the soil around the tanks, he said. Gallant and other staff also warned that procurement delays for steel, electrical components or other long-lead items remain potential risks to the schedule and that the team is preparing contingency options — including temporary power solutions such as generators — if some systems cannot be delivered on time.

From the school-operations side, Rusty Fairhart, chief operations officer for Newport News Public Schools, outlined work to ready the building for students. He said the division has a furniture committee working with instructional staff, is "close to finalizing our furniture request" and had reached about 99% completion on a color palette pending a final terrazzo sample. Fairhart said the division is working with Huntington alumni to develop building graphics that reflect the school's history.

Officials also discussed next steps for shared use of the complex: city and school staff intend to draft an agreement clarifying which spaces each party controls, scheduling procedures and how community organizations will access shared facilities once the complex opens. Council members asked about possible effects on bus routes; Gallant said that routing questions are being evaluated and that staff would notify council and the public when plans are available.

No formal action or vote was taken at the meeting on the Huntington project. Officials said they will continue coordination with Dominion Energy, the contractor and school staff, and will update council and the school board at future meetings.

The joint discussion included direct references to construction percent-complete, costs, discovered underground storage tanks, the transformer procurement by Dominion and contingency planning; those items were the principal operational risks identified at the Sept. 23 session.