City sets hearing for $166.59M Pickering borrowing

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Last Updated, Jan 10, 2024, 12:25 AM

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LYNN — City Council voted unanimously to approve a public hearing to determine whether the city will borrow $166,598,362 in bonds to construct a new Pickering Middle School at a lot adjacent to 58 Conomo Ave.

The hearing will be held in the coming weeks, allowing residents to voice their opinions and concerns on the school’s funding before City Council votes on the borrowing approval.

Although the city will vote on whether or not to approve borrowing for the construction project’s full cost, the Massachusetts School Building Authority voted in October to increase its reimbursement from $393 to $550 per square foot, bringing Lynn’s out-of-pocket share of construction costs down from approximately $90 million to approximately $62 million.

“Without this increase, the project would not have been feasible. We worked hard to have the MSBA understand how critical it was for our district to receive higher reimbursement. We appreciate the fact that they were responsive,” Mayor Jared Nicholson said in October.

Nicholson added that the price reduction was a “team effort” and credited the Pickering School Building Committee, School Committee, City Council, and the state delegation, led by state Sen. Brendan Crighton, with helping to make the case for a price reduction with the MSBA.

“With the costs of construction skyrocketing this past year, the Lynn legislative delegation and Mayor Nicholson came together to tackle this issue with a great sense of urgency,” Crighton said.

In October, the Pickering School Building Committee submitted a roughly 1,000-page schematic design for the new school construction, which included a plethora of information about the proposed project, including everything from cost estimates to floor plans and design renderings.

The MSBA approved the project’s schematic design in December, keeping the project on track for the school’s expected opening in the fall of 2026.

Anthony Cammalleri is the Daily Item’s Swampscott and Nahant News Reporter. He wrote for Performer Magazine from 2016 until 2018 and has been published in the Boston Globe, and Westford Community Access Television News.

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