By Adam Swift
There are a number of big dates on the horizon for the building of a new Revere High School at Wonderland.
Last week, project manager Brian Dakin of Leftfield appeared before the city council to update it on the schedule that would see the new high school open around August of 2028 for the 2028-29 school year.
In January, the council voted to move forward with building on the Wonderland property.
The estimated cost of building on the Wonderland site is $522 million, which includes the $29.5 million the city has already spent to take the 30-plus acre site by eminent domain.
After accounting for the MSBA grants, the total cost of building on the Wonderland site to the city would be about $285.5 million, according to the project team.
The schematic plans for the four-story school are currently under review by the Massachusetts School Building Authority and are expected to come back to the building team with remarks and questions before the MSBA Board is scheduled to vote on the project on April 24, according to Dakin.
If that vote is successful, Dakin said there are two votes that will come back to the council later in the spring.
The first is the project scope and budget agreement, which Dakin said the council will be asked to approve in early May.
“We will then get that back to the MSBA … and they will then issue the project funding agreement,” said Dakin. “That is the big one, that is the real legal agreement that has the project scope and budget and the numbers attached to it.”
With that debt authorization vote, which will require a two-thirds vote by the council, the project will then be able to enter the design development phase, Dakin said.
In parallel with the MSBA process, Dakin said there will also be an ongoing local and state permitting process.
While the overall permitting process could take up to 18 months, Dakin said there should be enough permits in hand to begin site preparation this spring, with site remediation and utility work getting underway next spring.
There would be a full mobilization to get the foundation and steel work underway by next summer, with substantial completion and an opening date in 2028, Dakin said.
“We would like to be back before the council in the next month or two with more updated details on permitting and how we hope to get through the permitting path, and why we still believe we can start construction on these dates,” said Dakin.
