PAWTUCKET – A significant financial step was taken by the city on Wednesday to convert the site of the Pawtucket Red Sox’s former home into a new unified high school.
By a unanimous 9-0 vote, the City Council approved the city’s issuance of up to $110 million in general obligation bonds to help finance the demolition of McCoy Stadium and construction of the new high school. The council’s action on Wednesday, with little discussion, helps the city meet a portion of the $330 million in bonds that were
approved by city voters in November 2022 for the new 482,500-square-foot high school that will unite the city’s aging Charles E. Shea and William E. Tolman high schools and house approximately 2,200 students.
According to the council’s resolution, the bond issuance is subject to approval of state housing aid at a reimbursement rate or state share ration of “not less than 83.7%.” The authorizations will also be reduced by any grant received from the school building authority capital fund, the resolution says.
The council’s vote comes six months after the R.I. Department of Education presented the city with
a $50 million PayGo check to help finance the new school’s construction. RIDE officials at the time said the check will help the city reduce its bond to finance the new high school’s construction to $280 million and create $50 million in employment opportunities for local women-owned and minority-owned businesses.
RIDE officials also said at the time the Pawtucket high school project will be the largest such school project in the state, surpassing the recent East Providence High School project. Additionally, the city council and Pawtucket School Committee recently awarded Providence-based Shawmut Design and Construction the construction contract for the project, city spokesperson Grace Voll told Providence Business News on Thursday.
According to The Valley Breeze, Shawmut projects its project budget to be around $282 million.
Voll also told PBN that demolition of McCoy will “roughly” take place between the fall and winter. She says “multiple assessments,” including demolition costs, need to be done before the wrecking ball is taken to the 82-year-old stadium that has sat vacant since the PawSox moved to Worcester, Mass., in 2021.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
