Cost to renovate old Harrington?

[Tom Diaz]

Offline, there has been some discussion about renovating old Harrington for use as a school building again.

Some people have stated that the Superintendent and the director of the Department of Public Facilities put the cost at somewhere in the $20 million range.

Could either Dr. Hacket or Mr. Cronin elaborate, please?  I'm sure we all will understand the difficulty of making an accurate estimate of such a project on an email list.  However, since the number was attributed to these two people I hope they or their staff can comment on it.

I will also just speak for myself and say that before we set things in motion to tear down a sizable school building, I would like to have some idea what it would cost to make it operational as  a school again.

Tom Diaz

Precinct 8

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_______________________
Thomas R. Díaz

13 Lois Lane

Lexington, Massachusetts 02420

Text: (781) 454-9946

[Meg Muckenhoupt]

I will also just speak for myself and say that before we set things in motion to tear down a sizable school building, I would like to have some idea what it would cost to make it operational as  a school again.

Your question was already partly answered by Mike Cronin, head of Public Facilities, in an FAQ from Annual Town Meeting. 

https://www.lexingtonma.gov/faq.aspx?qid=522

The 46,000 square foot building at 146 Maple Street, the Central Administration Building for the School Department, has been identified in the 20 year capital plan and was given the grade of an “F” condition building.  It currently needs significant investment (more than $16 million dollars) in a full replacement of the HVAC, roof, windows, envelope, and electrical.  In addition, there was a space needs study performed where the CO would easily fit in space 50% smaller than what they currently have, thereby making the layout of the existing CO extremely inefficient.  The net positive to demolishing this building would be the addition of new playing fields for the community. 

***

The CEC report pegs that renovation cost at $20 million.

Meg Muckenhoupt

Precinct 1

 

Tom Diaz

Precinct 8

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_______________________
Thomas R. Díaz

13 Lois Lane

Lexington, Massachusetts 02420

Text: (781) 454-9946

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[Tom Diaz]

Thanks, Meg.

I would still like to know whether $16 million is the cost to renovate the building for use as a central office or weather that number, or some number of that order, would be enough to return it to use as a school building.

Tom Diaz

Precinct 8

[Steven Kaufman]

16M might be a lot less than building a new central

office building for the school system if the high school is too small. 

On Nov 11, 2024, at 2:47 PM, Tom Diaz <thoma...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Meg Muckenhoupt]

The new Central Office portion of the LHS building is intended as swing space.

If the LHS student population grows, it's a lot easier to move offices over to 173 Bedford Street (or a rented space) than to move students somewhere else, or build an addition.

And if the school population goes down again - which has happened before in Lexington, and seems to be happening at the elementary schools right now - the central office could move back in. 

I haven't seen any discussion about building a new stand-alone Central Office building. 

Meg Muckenhoupt

Precinct 1

[Charles Lamb]

Hi Tom,

You may consider the attached CIP as confirmation of the $20m figure. You may assume that the figure is only for infrastructure improvements. Bringing the building to a program-ready state would be some additional amount of monies.

Charles Lamb, Chair CEC

[Tom Diaz]

Thank you, Charles.  

Although $18 million gets a building with stable infrastructure, a "program-ready" building to be a school would be quite a bit more.  Although $18 million seems to me lik e a good head start.

Tom Diaz

Precinct 8

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[Charles Lamb]

The number is $20m, not $18m. There's $2m in the FY before that $18m.