The Revere City Council will hold a public hearing on a $16.5 million bond authorization to fund the settlement for the eminent domain taking of the Wonderland site for the new high school at its Oct. 26 meeting.
Earlier this month, the city and the owner of the property, CBW Lending, reached a settlement for the property. The city took the 30-plus acre Wonderland site in November of 2022 for $29.5 million to build the new Revere High School.
“This will settle the lawsuit at an overall price of $46,000,000 for the Wonderland site,” stated Revere Finance Director Richard Viscay in a letter to the council. “This settlement is very important to the City, as it removes a large ‘pending liability’ to the City as it relate(s) to both our financial advisors and bond council, as well as allows us to utilize actual amounts when forecasting the final cost of the construction of the new Revere High School.”
With over $24,000,000 in potential savings on the original $493,000,000 construction budget authorized, the overall net budget of the project will be unaffected, according to Viscay.
On the advice of bond counsel, Viscay said the city has been advised to ask that the Council separately authorized a $16,500,000 bond for “land acquisition.” Once the project is complete, he said the city will then rescind an equal amount from the $493,000,000 bond previously authorized. On the advice of the bond counsel, Viscay stated that all bond rescissions should be voted upon completion of the project and receipt of all reimbursements from the Commonwealth.
Mayor Patrick Keefe briefly addressed the council about the requested bond authorization at Monday night’s council meeting.
“We are still under the budget and in really good financial standing for the project as a whole, but most importantly, we are really past this stage of worrying about a court judgement that could be really painful,” said Keefe. “We are really happy to move on and to continue building a school and have it ready for our students and our families in the next couple of years.”