City Council to consider $16.5 million bond for Wonderland site settlement

Advocate Staff Report

The Revere City Council will hold a public hearing on Oct. 26 on a proposed $16.5 million bond authorization to fund the settlement of the city’s eminent domain taking of the Wonderland site, where the new Revere High School is being built. Earlier this month, the city and property owner CBW Lending reached a settlement over the more than 30-acre site. Revere took the property through eminent domain in November 2022 for $29.5 million as part of plans to construct the new high school.

The settlement brings the total cost of the Wonderland property to $46 million, according to Revere Finance Director Richard Viscay. “This will settle the lawsuit at an overall price of $46,000,000 for the Wonderland site,” Viscay wrote in a letter to the City Council. “This settlement is very important to the City, as it removes a large ‘pending liability’ to the City as it relates to both our financial advisors and bond counsel, as well as allows us to utilize actual amounts when forecasting the final cost of the construction of the new Revere High School.”

Despite the additional cost associated with the property, Viscay said the overall project budget is expected to remain unchanged. The city currently has more than $24 million in potential savings against the original $493 million construction budget authorization.

On the advice of bond counsel, Viscay said, the city is seeking a separate $16.5 million bond authorization for “land acquisition.”

Once the high school project is completed, the city plans to rescind an equal amount from the previously authorized $493 million bond, Viscay said. He added that bond counsel has advised the city to vote on all bond rescissions after the project is completed and the city has received all reimbursements from the Commonwealth.

Mayor Patrick Keefe briefly addressed the council about the proposed bond authorization during Monday night’s 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 judgment that could be really painful,” Keefe said. “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.”