After 10 years of effort and dispute, Quincy is getting a new high school.


Unlike many construction projects stalled right now due to poor economic conditions, the new Quincy High School (QHS) project is on-track for a September 2010 completion thanks in part to project cost reimbursement from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).


The $127-million QHS project received a $72-million grant from the MSBA as well as a $15 million low-interest loan. The loan was issued under State Treasurer Timothy Cahill’s innovative financing program which was created to help communities such as Quincy get projects rolling. Cahill oversees spending for public school construction projects.


The project was stalled for so long because the city needed additional funds to get the project going, according a spokeswoman for the authority. The loan helped to accelerate construction, she added. The MSBA was created in 2004, replacing a Department of Education program that left the state with an $11-billion debt and 428 green-lighted projects in limbo. 


“It took 10-12 years to get the project off the ground and the school went through a lot of different reiterations looking at new sites and finally decided to stay here,” said James D. Driscoll, project executive at Providence-based Gilbane Building Co. “Throughout the three-phase project the school has remained open.”





Team Effort


Former Mayor William Phelan, who was a member of the school committee, halted plans in 2000 to build the new school on the site of a former industrial landfill.


In its original form, the school consisted of a main building fronting Coddington Avenue and two wings filled with classrooms. A bridge spanned over Woodward Avenue and connected the main school to a vocational school. Now Woodward Avenue has been blocked off and the new school will span the space featuring a courtyard with granite benches.


The construction manager, Gilbane, bid on the project in the spring of 2007, New York City-based Tuschman Construction is the owner’s construction manager and Cambridge-based Symmes Maini & McKee Assoc. is the architect. SMMA came on board in 2004 for what was then a $66.5 million project, said Driscoll.


In 2007, the two wings of the old school were demolished and students have since been taking classes in the main building and in Quincy College buildings adjacent to the school, Driscoll said. Once construction is complete, entry to the old main school building will be sealed off from the high school, and the city will take ownership of the property. The school’s new main entrance faces one blocked off end of Woodward Avenue.


Construction began on land cleared by the demolition of the wings for the new 130,000-square-foot four-story Science, Mathematics and Technology Academy in 2007. The doors were opened to students this February.


The now-vacant 1960-era four-story concrete building that housed the Center for Technical Education vocational school has been cleared of equipment and will be demolished in the coming weeks, Driscoll said. The daunting structure still has asbestos clinging to some walls, previously unknown to the Gilbane team. Once the site is cleaned up, the remaining piece of the old school will come down. 





More To Go


The old gymnasium will also be torn down and a parking lot will span the area.


After demolition, construction will begin on the 200,000-square-foot three-story main high school building. The new wing will feature three additional academies: Humanities, Visual and Performing Arts, and the Freshman Academy. The next phase will also include a new gymnasium, a 750-seat auditorium, a library and a 500-seat cafeteria.


“It’s a great feeling now we can see how it’s all coming along and how it will connect in the end,” said Superintendent of Quincy Public Schools Richard DeCristofaro standing in a classroom in the science and technology wing surrounded by new computers. 


“The new Quincy High School project is an example of a bright spot in the Massachusetts construction market,” said Ryan E. Hutchins, district manager at Gilbane. “We continue to see schools being built, as we’re currently getting shovels in the ground at the new Worcester North High School and the renovations at Malden High School.” 


The class of 2013 will be the first class to complete each grade in the new school.