BEVERLY — Less than a year after its new high school opened, the city is taking the first step toward building a new middle school.
Mayor Bill Scanlon told the School Committee Wednesday night that he will file a "statement of interest" with the Massachusetts School Building Authority seeking a state grant to help pay for the project, which has been estimated at $33 million.
The plans call for the expansion and renovation of the Memorial Building on Cabot Street into what Scanlon called "the middle school of the future." Scanlon said the MSBA began accepting new applications for school building projects on Oct. 3, and the city plans to submit its statement by the Jan. 11 deadline.
"We've begun that process," he said.
But with the time needed to apply for state aid, obtain City Council approval, hire an architect and design the project, construction would not begin for four years, Scanlon said.
The Memorial Building, which was built in 1953, served as one of the city's two middle schools until 2005, when officials decided to consolidate students into Briscoe Middle School to save money. Memorial is newer than Briscoe, which was built in 1923 as the new high school, but was not big enough to accommodate the city's nearly 1,000 middle school students.
At nearly 100 years old, Briscoe was seen as a temporary solution until the city could afford to expand and renovate Memorial. Scanlon said the city will be able to afford the project, as debt for the elementary school renovation projects done in the 1990s comes off the books.
Memorial is now being used as the home of Northshore Recovery High School as well as for school and city offices. The building is not only newer but is on a 17-acre site, much larger than the 6 acres at Briscoe, Scanlon said.
Scanlon said he is hoping the state will pay 60 percent of the cost of the project. The state paid 58.4 percent of the new and renovated $81 million high school, which opened last November.
Filing the statement of interest means the plans are still in the "exploratory" stage, he said. The City Council would need to approve the city's share of the funding.
School Committee member Karen Fogarty asked Scanlon how much community support there is for a new middle school.
"As I go around the city in this campaign season, it seems to me the No. 1 priority of many people is getting the middle school project teed up and ready to go," said Scanlon, who is running for re-election against City Council President Mike Cahill on Nov. 8. "We have to demonstrate to the council our ability to pay for it."
Fogarty described a new middle school as "a need, not a wish."
"We have a building (Briscoe) that's way beyond its use," School Committee member Paul Manzo said.
Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or by email at pleighton@salemnews.com.
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