LYNN — The School Building Committee met Wednesday to discuss the construction timeline for the city’s new Pickering Middle School, scheduled to open its doors to students for the first time in fall 2026.
School Building Committee members are now reviewing proposed site designs for the $130 million to $140 million project, which were due Wednesday. The committee plans to determine which design for the estimated 170,000 to 180,000 square foot building is most appropriate before the end of the year. Following the completion of a feasibility and schematic design, as well as a round of city approvals, the committee plans to break ground in constructing the new middle school in 2024, with the bulk of construction taking place during 2025.
Lynn Stapleton, a project executive with LeftField, a Boston-based school-construction management company, said the committee plans to complete construction in the summer of 2026 before Lynn students return to school in the fall. However, she added that the city could see the project completed as early as 2025.
“We ended up with a schedule that’s a little longer than we hoped,” Stapleton said. “Hopefully, we should be able to shave a little time off of that.”
Mayor Jared Nicholson and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Tutwiler lead the Pickering Middle School project team. They chose Stapleton to manage the project, in part, due to her previous work guiding the construction of the Thurgood Marshall Middle School on Brookline Street, which city officials agreed to convert into affordable housing this month.
At the meeting, the project team also discussed the recent launch of its website, which aims to provide updated information about Pickering Middle School’s construction timeline and answer community members’ frequently asked questions.
“We will continue to push forward,” Nicholson said. “We will be sharing that website … to start laying the groundwork for the level of communication we are hoping to achieve with the community.”
Rachel Barber can be reached at [email protected].
