Design update: Revere’s new high school plans for under‑building parking, raised first floor and coastal design steps

The Revere City Council received a design development update for the new Revere High School on Feb. 3. Senior project manager Brian Dakin and architects from Perkins Eastman presented site plans, exterior materials and key program elements, and answered councilors’ questions about coastal flood risk, permitting and state reimbursement.

The most newsworthy details: the building’s first floor will be elevated roughly 16 feet to meet coastal flood requirements; the design includes under‑building parking (roughly 300–350 spaces) and plus‑surface parking to yield about 650 total parking spaces on campus; the campus plan includes two athletic fields, five tennis courts and an internal courtyard; the team expects to bid demolition of the old dog‑track foundations in March–April and to mobilize building construction in August if cost estimates and permitting remain on schedule.

Why it matters: Councilors pressed designers about the project’s exposure to tidal flooding and about a new MSBA rule that withholds reimbursement until MEPA review is complete. The project team said MEPA steps are under way and that, while coastal floodplain issues require mitigation and raise design cost considerations, they are…