Select Board reviews revised Neary (NHERI) schematic; new fourth‑grade school estimated at about $70 million

The Select Board reviewed schematic estimates for the Neary (NHERI) project on Feb. 25 and confirmed the building committee’s recommended option: a new four‑grade school (the committee label “C4”). The project’s revised cost estimate, including furniture, temporary housing for students during construction and site work, is approximately $69–70 million before borrowings and grant reimbursements.

The board’s finance subcommittee and the Neary Building Committee recommended C4 after project re‑pricing and some value engineering. That option would replace the existing Neary school with a new facility designed for four grades and an enrollment projection the committee used for cost modeling.

Nut graf: The revised C4 cost estimate includes an assumed $5 million in federal incentives for a proposed geothermal heating and cooling system (four million dollars from the federal Inflation Reduction Act and $1…