LYNN — A Pickering School Building subcommittee held virtual interviews with three companies for the position of the Owner’s Project Manager (OPM) for the new middle school this week and identified one finalist.
On Monday, the subcommittee interviewed two companies: LeftField and Colliers. The third candidate, Hill International, was interviewed on Tuesday evening.
Based on the highest interview ranking and reference checks, the School Building Committee will be moving forward with LeftField to get a contract in place for their OPM services.
Each interview lasted for approximately 30 minutes. The candidates made presentations, answering the same questions provided by the city beforehand, as well as impromptu questions from the subcommittee members after the presentation. The questions ranged from experience and qualifications of the project team, working in densely-populated school districts, community-outreach approaches, to handling cost overruns, delays and design mistakes.
After the presentation, subcommittee members graded candidates on a scale of zero to 10 points for each question. LeftField scored the highest on its presentation, followed by Colliers. Hill International came in third place with a significant gap.
LeftField is a locally-owned project-management company that was established in 2007 and has 32 employees, including 20 project managers. The company works in all six regions of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) and is managing $2.3 billion worth of construction projects.
LeftField’s team has already worked with Lynn on Thurgood Marshall Middle School, which was completed in 2016. It was selected to manage the Pickering Middle School project in 2016, before it was thwarted by an unfavorable public vote.
“We can use the knowledge gained thus far to be more efficient in doing this the second time around and use the institutional knowledge that we have built up and really help make this a slingshot,” said Lynn Stapleton, the would-be project manager.
Stapleton called the failure of the previous Pickering project the low point of her career and attributed it to the challenges of high student enrollment, redistricting and finding suitable sites.
The company highlighted its other middle-school projects in Fall River (Morton Middle School, 2013), Wakefield (Galvin Middleschool, 2015), and Tyngsborough (Tyngsborough Middle School, due to be complete in 2026).
LeftField presented preliminary scenarios for the new Pickering Middle School, estimating a possible completion date, which would be at the end of 2025 or the middle of 2026. The school would be between 170,000 to 180,000 square feet, and would cost the city between $130-140 million, according to LeftField.
Colliers, a division of a big international company, made emphasis in its presentation on strict monitoring of finance and financial reporting.
“As project managers with Colliers, what we do is we bring order to chaos,” said Ken Guyette, senior director and would-be project director for the Pickering construction.
Colliers Project Leaders has two offices in Massachusetts, including one in Boston, and has completed more than 100 public K–12 school projects. Besides the presenting team, Colliers boasted about 130 professionals in house, including former architects, engineers, contractors, and building officials, who would be available at a moment’s notice if their level of expertise is needed on the project.
This candidate estimated that the new Pickering would be about 181,000 square feet and would cost between $110-140 million. The team also said that holding meaningful conversations with the community and making a strong case to gain people’s support for this project is one of the biggest challenges ahead.
“Knowing that this is the second round, I think we have to be that much more deliberate in talking to the community about why this is so important,” said Derek Osterman, the would-be senior project manager. “You have a really compelling story to tell about severe overcrowding, buildings that are more than 100 years old, and absolute focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. I think the timing is perfect.”
The third candidate — Hill International — is also a New England division of a global company. Hill International has 46 professionals working in New England and has completed 49 MSBA projects, as well as many non-MSBA projects, the team said.
“We work hand in hand with the designer, with the owner, with the neighbors to create a logistics plan to make sure that we are minimizing the impact on the neighbors, while still bringing value to the project and being able to do that project in a timely manner on budget and meeting the educational planning requirements, which is really the ultimate goal here,” said Michael Carroll, the principal-in-charge, about working in highly congested areas.
Hill International has worked in Lynn before on an accelerated repair project. The company is working on two projects in Revere, where it has managed five school projects previously, and in Swampscott on the new elementary school.
Vivian Varbedian, who would be the project director, used the new Swampscott elementary school as an example of when a failed vote was turned into a success story. She said Hill International could be the fresh set of eyes to look at the limited site, reevaluate the project and reconfigure the school building.
When asked about why they want to work in Lynn, Varbedian said it was important to them to work in places where they can make a considerable impact.
“I love school projects, regardless of where and what town it is, but especially one that I know will make a huge impact on the community,” said Varbedian.
The OPM selection subcommittee consisted of Mayor Jared C. Nicholson, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Tutwiler, Ward 2 Councilor Rick Starbard, School Committee member Lorraine Gately, Deputy Building Commissioner Joseph Smart, and Peter Kolokithas, a professional engineer and Lynn Public Schools parent. Michael Donovan, chief of the Inspectional Services Department, also attended the interviews.
