Revere

Miles from Boston 4
Population 47,283
Median house price $330,000 (Jan. - June 2006)
Tax rate $10.13
Transportation Routes 1A, 16, 60, 107, 145. MBTA Blue Line, MBTA bus service.
MCAS Among 278 systems, 10th-graders ranked 225 in English and 219 in math, according to a Boston Globe analysis of 2005 results. Third-graders ranked 236 out of 299 systems in reading. Sixth-graders ranked 184 out of 306 systems in math.
Census facts Median family income is $45,865, compared to national rate of $50,046; and 13.5 percent held a bachelor's degree or higher compared to national rate of 24 percent.
Website www.revere.org

REVERE -- Mayor Thomas G. Ambrosino says the city is not only getting a facelift along its well-known beachfront boulevard -- it's also getting an upgrade potentially worth $500 million in private investment.

Next month, Ambrosino said the developer of the Wonderland transit site on Ocean Avenue will be chosen, a project that would bring some upscale housing, a hotel, and some office space to a resolutely working class city just 4 miles from downtown Boston.

When open, Ambrosino said the Ted Williams Tunnel makes access to Boston even faster for residents.

At the same time, the city's signature asset, Revere Beach, the nation's first public beach, is slated for a $9 million state-financed renovation.

``It's a beautiful beach; the water is very clean, and it's so close to downtown Boston that I think we often consider it a hidden jewel," he said.

Ambrosino said the city has built two schools with three more on the way and will soon break ground on an $18.5 million public safety complex.

Settled by Europeans in 1630, Revere was once part of Boston and Chelsea. It became its own community in 1871 and incorporated as a city in 1914.

Home to the Wonderland dog track and new corporate home of the NECCO candy company, Revere also hosts, along with Saugus, the 600-acre Rumney Marsh Reservation, a state-owned reservation along the Saugus and Pines rivers.

On a recent week, Realtor.com listed 184 single-family homes, ranging from $157,757 for a one-bed, one-bath, 522-square-foot home to $909,900 for a five-bed, 3.5-bath 4,700-square-foot home. Median price of a single-family home in early 2006 was $330,000, according to the Warren Group, which publishes real estate information.

John Richardson Ellement