Construction of a new Revere High School in Massachusetts is on schedule and within budget. The $493 million project is set to begin summer 2025 at the former Wonderland Dog Track site and will feature upgraded facilities to serve 2,450 students.
Revere High School photo
Photo of the current Revere High School.
The new Revere High School (RHS) project at the former Wonderland Dog Track in Revere, Mass., is within its budget and on schedule, with demolition work at the site scheduled to begin summer 2025, according to the project manager.
Brian Dakin, a senior project manager for LeftField, a Boston-based firm, provided the latest update on the effort at the March 10, 2025, Revere City Council meeting.
Independent estimators from both the general contractor and the design firm both determined that the total project cost of approximately $493 million for the new school remains unchanged, the Revere Journal reported.
Revere is one of Boston's northern suburbs.
The Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) will be reimbursing the city for a portion of the total cost of the RHS construction. In addition, Revere officials authorized spending $29.5 million for using eminent domain to obtain the 30-acre-plus Wonderland property in 2022.
"I'm happy to say that we have reconciled these estimates, and they are on budget; in fact, they are a fraction of a percent under the target budget," Dakin said to council members. "As a result, we have submitted the design development package [to the MSBA] on budget [as] nothing had to be removed [nor] added from what was previously prepared."
The design team at Perkins Eastman, which has a studio in Boston, is currently proceeding into the 60 percent-completed construction document phase, which Dakin said would run through July 2025. At that point, the two independent estimators will once again work to verify that the project remains on budget before actual construction begins.
"In parallel with that, we are putting site demolition out to bid in the coming weeks," he said. "There is no new construction, it is simply the removal of the old clubhouse foundations and the dog track utilities under the dog track."
Dakin predicted that the bid process will be completed and approved by the school building committee between April and June 2025, in time to start the demolition phase of the project. In addition, a re-estimating of the budget is also likely to occur during the summer.
If all goes well, he said, construction should move forward with foundation and structural steel work beginning in August or September 2025 and the final construction documents should be completed by the end of 2025.
New RHS Built to Be Community Asset
At a public forum about the new school's construction last fall, architect Dawn Guarriello of Boston's Perkins Eastman reviewed its site plan as well as displayed renderings of the complex, the Journal noted.
The high school's main features will include:
• A four-story academic wing built to house most of RHS's general academic classrooms, some support services, specialty classes and a media center on the upper floors.
• Another three-story "heart of the school" that will include a new 1.000-seat auditorium, gymnasium, cafeterias and space for other activities such as JROTC and vocational programs.
• A first-year academy at RHS will provide a more separated area, including a specific cafeteria for ninth graders designed to allow for an easier transition into the school's culture.
• A multi-purpose field for soccer and baseball, as well as tennis courts and separate drop-off areas for cars and buses.
• A total of approximately 650 parking spaces, including approximately 350 underground spaces for teachers and staff.
"It is worth noting that we are in a flood zone, and our building needs to be elevated," Guarriello told the Revere City Council in October. "In elevating it, we took the opportunity to provide under-building parking."
The new RHS complex is being built to comfortably serve 2,450 students and at a planned 422,600 sq.-ft. is about twice the size of the current high school, which is located just a short distance to the west on School Street.
Hopes are that the high school will be a complex for students that fosters an environment of health and wellness, as well as offers opportunities for community use.
"This building can really be a resource and an asset to the city of Revere," Guarriello said.
Since the last time Dakin was before the Revere City Council, Ward 3 Councilor Anthony Cogliandro said that he has had a number of residents ask him about the possibility of making cuts to the project if it came in over budget.
"My question is, why don't we do that anyway to save money," Cogliandro asked at the recent meeting.
Dakin said the discussion is something that could be brought up with the school building committee.
Cogliandro also noted that given the size and scope of the project, there are also concerns about the cost of maintaining the building once it is complete.
The new Revere High School is scheduled to open in fall 2028.
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