Salem building committee narrows options for new high school; MSBA preliminary design program due

The Salem High School Building Committee met remotely Feb. 13 and reviewed the draft preliminary design program (PDP) and three primary site-and-building options for a replacement or renovation of Salem High School, with an emphasis on the financial and operational trade-offs ahead of a PDP submission to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA).

Committee leaders said the next formal step is a vote at the committee's Feb. 27 meeting to authorize the PDP submission; in the meantime designers will finalize program details and public outreach for a “sustainability summit.”

The PDP matters because it frames what the MSBA will evaluate for potential reimbursement and it sets the design team’s work for the next phase. Brooke, a member of the project design team, told the committee, “we are not required to pick an option at this point,” and characterized the current work as documenting options and assembling due diligence for the MSBA review.

Why this matters: The committee must weigh construction cost, building area and phasing alongside educational needs, CTE (career and technical education) spaces, and community access. Presenters and members repeatedly said building area is the largest single driver of cost; preliminary figures discussed in the meeting put construction costs for new work in the approximate range the design team is using for early budgeting.

What the committee heard and discussed

Space program and cost context — Beth Ann Cornell, a member of the Salem School Committee, summarized the district’s choice to pursue a 9–12 configuration rather than a 7–12 configuration, saying the school committee weighed academic and community feedback and concluded “we really couldn't ask, our community to, take on that kind of financial burden.” Design staff explained MSBA rules require the project team to show that a 7–12 option was considered, even if the district prefers 9–12.

Sizing and program numbers — The design team reported the draft program is tracking roughly 415,000 gross square feet; staff noted the existing high school was listed at about 411,000 square feet (not including a separate auto building). The consultants presented an early example calculation for the middle-school component used in MSBA comparisons: a reimbursable middle-school wing on MSBA rules would be roughly a 90,000-square-foot element, and at an assumed escalated construction cost of about $1,000 per square foot that wing would be on the order of $90 million before soft costs. The design team advised adding a rule-of-thumb 25% for soft costs (fees, contingencies, furniture/fixtures/equipment) when comparing options, which substantially increases the program-level budget estimate.

Three site-and-building concepts reviewed

- Addition/renovation wrapping existing gym/fieldhouse…