Erik Hagstrom & KIPP SoCal School Construction

In Southern California, access to high-quality public education is not always equal. Some communities face overcrowded schools, limited resources and fewer modern learning environments—challenges that can directly affect a student’s confidence, academic progress and long-term opportunity.

For Erik Hagstrom, director of real estate for KIPP SoCal Public Schools, school construction is about more than real estate development. It is about creating campuses that give students, families and educators the space they need to thrive.

KIPP SoCal Public Schools operates 23 tuition-free, open-enrollment public charter schools across Los Angeles County. The organization focuses on communities where families need stronger public school options, but the process does not begin with a building. It begins with listening.

Before KIPP moves forward in a neighborhood, its advocacy team connects with families, residents and local officials to understand whether the community wants and needs another public school option. From there, Hagstrom and his team begin the complex work of identifying a financially feasible site that can support the organization’s mission.

As Hagstrom explains, the goal is “creating an opportunity to shrink the achievement gap.”

Designing With Intention

Opening a new school is a long-term effort. According to Hagstrom, community outreach can take about a year. Site selection, permitting, entitlement and construction can each take roughly another year.

That timeline requires patience, coordination and strong relationships between KIPP, the project team, city officials and the surrounding community. Two recent projects show how important that collaboration can be: KIPP Compton Community School and KIPP Philosophers Academy.

KIPP Compton Community School is a 34,000-square-foot elementary school with 26 classrooms. Built on an infill site in a residential neighborhood, the project required a careful design approach to limit disruption for nearby residents.

Working with Berliner Architects, the team arranged the building around an internal courtyard that serves as a play area. Because the courtyard is shielded from the street, it helps reduce noise and creates a more protected outdoor environment for students. The design also includes a large roll-up door that connects indoor learning areas with the courtyard, allowing the school to make better use of its limited space.

Construction began during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, bringing supply chain issues, labor shortages and permitting delays. Oltmans Construction Co. helped keep the project moving by advocating for the school to be classified as essential work, while also maintaining strict safety protocols such as masking and contact tracing.

Despite those challenges, the school was completed before its December 2020 deadline.

Keeping Projects on Track

The Compton project did more than finish on time. It also came in $1 million under budget. Hagstrom credits the savings to smart vendor consolidation, careful financial decisions and consistent communication among the developer, architect and general contractor.

In his words, “everyone was always on the same page.”

Hagstrom also highlights the role of Sherita Bernardez, KIPP’s internal construction manager and a lifelong Compton resident. Her connection to the community made the work especially meaningful.

“This one was personal for her,” Hagstrom says.

The project later earned recognition from the LA Business Journal, receiving the Commercial Real Estate Bronze Award for Community Impact in March 2022.

KIPP Philosophers Academy presented a different set of challenges. The 31,000-square-foot middle school includes 22 classrooms and was built on just over half an acre. To maximize the small urban site, Franco Architects designed a three-story building with an underground parking garage.

That design required a conditional use permit from the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, as well as coordination with the city’s Urban Design Studio.

During excavation, unexpected underground conditions delayed the parking garage. EPI Construction adjusted the schedule to reduce the impact of change orders and keep the school on pace for a fall 2021 opening.

Near the end of construction, another issue surfaced: the project’s assigned electrical service engineer had left, and the account had not been reassigned. Hagstrom worked with AMJ Construction Management, whose local utility relationships helped move the project back up the priority list and secure electrical service in time for students to arrive.

Building With the Right Partners

Hagstrom joined KIPP SoCal in July 2019, bringing experience in architecture, project management, real estate and school development. He says the success of these projects depends heavily on partners who understand the mission and are willing to stay flexible when challenges appear.

Building charter schools in underserved communities can require sacrifice from project partners, but Hagstrom believes many teams are drawn to the work because they understand its long-term impact. Once a school opens, the value of that effort becomes visible in the students, educators and families who use the space every day.

Before joining KIPP SoCal, Hagstrom worked with Pacific Charter School Development, a nonprofit real estate development firm based in Los Angeles. He also spent time as a project manager in Seattle before returning to Southern California.

His earlier career included project management work at Marx Okubo Associates, an architectural consulting firm in San Francisco, and a real estate leadership role at Partner Engineering and Science. He also earned an MBA from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.

For Hagstrom, that combination of education and experience now supports work with a deeper purpose: building schools that help educators do their best work and give students learning environments they can be proud of.

As he puts it, KIPP SoCal is working to “disrupt conventional public school education”—and the design of each campus must help make that possible.