Cohen: Newton North High builder's proposed price will keep project under the city's $197.5 million cap

The construction management firm for the Newton North High School project has proposed a guaranteed maximum price for the project that will keep the total cost under the $197.5 million pledge made by Mayor David B. Cohen, the city announced today.

Newton North is now under budget! Well, sort of ... (City of Newton image)

"Given the $164,900,132 figure we can now be assured that the final price tag will meet the $197.5 million target we set several months ago," Cohen wrote.

The guaranteed maximum price, or the maximum amount the city will have to pay for the project, is expected be finalized between the city and Dimeo during the next two to four weeks, Cohen's spokesman, Jeremy Solomon, said this week.

The city is building the project using a relatively new state statute that allows it to hire a "construction manager at risk."

The statute allowed the city to hire and negotiate with Dimeo Construction without a competitive bidding process, but once the negotiation is complete, Dimeo will have to pay any costs over the negotiated amount.

-- Ralph Ranalli and Rachana Rathi