Revere High School project comes in under budget but faces opening delay to early 2029

By Barbara Taormina

Brian Dakin, senior project manager for the Revere High School project, announced he had good news and bad news at the Building Committee meeting last week. Dakin was reviewing a 90-day construction document required by the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), which tracks the progress of the project.

Dakin said the good news was there were no changes to the scope or design of the project. The even better news was two separate estimates, one showing costs $8.8 million under budget, and a second estimate that came in $12.3 million under budget.

“That keeps me confident we’re on the path to achieving the $10 million reduction we’ve talked about,” Dakin told the committee.

But the bad news is that the high school will not open in August/September of 2028. According to Dakin, the likely opening of the school will be after the holidays at the end of 2028, most likely 2029. Dakin said the delay was “related to the complexity of resolving ground conditions at the Wonderland site. Soil management and testing were not accounted for properly.”

Dakin reiterated that the project scope and budget were in good shape.

“This was unforeseen but not fully unexpected,” said Mayor Patrick Keefe. “With a three-year construction project there are always blips.”

Keefe said it is a large site, and the city is being extra cautious about where soil is moved. “The good news is finances are lining up favorably,” added Keefe.

Dakin said workers will keep leaning into this, to see if any time can be regained. “However, the only responsible thing is to acknowledge that the summer move-in date does not look like it’s achievable,” he said.