Town trims $6m from school cost

State agency urges shift to renovation, addition

The Wellesley School Building Committee settled on a plan calling for a new high school complex to replace the 1938 building, with the initial price tag estimated at $159 million.

At a time when construction costs for new schools are skyrocketing, officials in Wellesley announced this week that the target price for their proposed new high school will drop by nearly $6 million. Meanwhile, officials said, the state is asking the town to consider changing its current plan, which calls for a new building, in favor of a combination of renovations to the existing facility and new construction.

Katherine Babson, a Wellesley selectwoman and chairwoman of the town's School Building Committee, said the new high school building now carries a projected cost of $153 million. Initial plans called for a budget of $159 million - a price that was roundly criticized by state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill as being too high.

Babson said the revised estimate was based on the School Committee's proposal to reduce the size of the new high school from more than 327,000 square feet to 315,000 square feet.

The new plan would put the project's cost at approximately $486 per square foot, according to calculations by the Globe. By comparison, the $197.5 million, 405,000-square-foot Newton North High School project averages out to roughly $488 per square foot.

Babson also said the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which administers the state's five-year, $2.5 billion aid package for local projects, contacted town officials Friday and asked that Wellesley "analyze an alternative option" for a new high school.

The authority suggested that a renovation of Wellesley's 1938 high school building in conjunction with additional structures would be more efficient than razing the old structure and replacing it with a new facility, Babson said. Its proposal calls for a school of about 292,000 square feet, she said, with a bridge connecting the renovated structure to a new four-story building, a wrap-around balcony added to the original auditorium, and a conversion of the existing gymnasium into a library.

Town officials had considered a number of alternatives, including a mix of renovation and expansion, before settling on the all-new construction plan last month.

The option calling for renovating and adding to the old school was dropped after estimates showed it would cost some $15 million more than the all-new version's $159 million price tag.

In remarks to the Boston Chamber of Commerce on May 22, Cahill criticized the Wellesley plan for being too expensive, and referred to the "badly managed" new high school project in Newton, where costs have jumped from $141 million in January 2007 to $197.5 million this spring. Cahill, who as state treasurer serves as the MSBA's chairman, said the agency is "not going to be spending $160 million or financing half of that for any of our communities."

Carolyn Walsh, a spokeswoman for the MSBA, said agency officials are confident that Wellesley "can come up with a plan that is less costly than current estimates." She said they would meet with Wellesley officials next month to consider the options.

"In the meantime," she said, "the staff continues to do its due diligence" on Wellesley's request for state aid for the project, "and is working to come up with a solution that is cost-effective and educationally appropriate."

Babson said the town's School Building Committee "will work with the MSBA to understand the implications" of its proposal, including its impact on the educational program at Wellesley High, which has been rated by US News & World Report as one of the country's top 100 high schools.