Stoneham High School Project Likely To Need More Funding, Committee Says

STONEHAM, MA — Stoneham’s new high school building project will likely need additional money beyond what has already been approved to reach completion, the Stoneham School Building Committee said on Friday.

Just over a month after announcing that the project was facing cutbacks due to rising product and labor costs, the committee said in a statement that it will now “very likely be necessary to return to Town Meeting to seek an additional sum of money to be added to the budget.”

“These cost increases are affecting virtually the entire construction sector,” the committee said.

Crews broke ground on the high school project earlier this year. Work follows votes at Town Meeting and via a ballot measure last year to advance what was initially estimated as a nearly $190 million project.

The Massachusetts School Building Authority agreed to chip in $49 million, leaving a cost for Stoneham of about $140.6 million.

A variety of economic factors have since snarled aspects of the project, though, prompting officials to warn in September that they might need to trim aspects of the final project plans.

Officials left open the possibility of needing more money even with those cuts. They then confirmed that likely prospect last week, blaming inflation, supply chain issues and workforce challenges impacting the construction industry.

READ: Stoneham Considers Trimming High School Project Plans As Costs Mount

Officials on Tuesday said that they had moved items to a “bid alternative” category, which will allow them to add such elements back into the project if additional funding becomes available.

Items include a planned athletic building adjacent to the new high school sports stadium, according to the School Building Committee.

Officials detailed other changes, including a decision to replace planned movable classroom walls with solid alternatives. A planned central office area has also been removed from the project in addition to other “architectural finishes.”

“We have moved several important pieces of the project to the Bid Alternate status in order to keep our initial commitment to open the new building in September 2024, on time and on budget” School Building Committee Co-Chair Marie Christie said in the committee’s statement. “But, we feel very strongly that these aspects of the project are necessary to deliver the project we promised.”

“While it is too early to know the exact amount of the request, the Committee continues to work with the project partners to assess and communicate the impact to the community on a timely basis,” Christie continued.

The School Building Committee submitted a set of 90% construction documents to the state School Building Authority late last month, marking a step forward in the project while triggering a new phase of monitoring from the state.

The committee has additionally already approved early procurement of some project materials, it said last week, with the goal of keeping project work on schedule.

Project costs could still change as work continues, though the committee said last week that it is expecting to reach its guaranteed maximum price by January of next year.

In making their announcement , the School Building Committee did not specify the size of any possible funding request to go before Town Meeting.

Additional project information can be found here.

School Building Committee meetings are ongoing, with agenda and viewing information available here.

Stoneham is far from the only area community facing concerns about project costs.

In Melrose, officials said earlier this year that costs for long awaited library renovations could spike beyond the current project budget. Contractors’ bids for the library work were due on Sept. 28 with a presentation expected soon on the impact of those bids on the eventual project cost.

As Stoneham completes its school project, eyes are also on Northeast Metropolitan Regional High School, where crews just broke ground on their own new high school building project. Patch has reached out to school officials seeking information on current cost estimates in light of inflation and construction industry product and labor shortages.