The new Edward Brooke Charter School coming together

Page 4
THE EAST BOSTON TIMES-FREE PRESS Wednesday, January 30, 2013
The new Edward Brooke Charter School coming together
By John Lynds
Developers for the Edward
Brooke Charter School attended two community meetings to go over the school’s
plans to convert the former
Savio high School on Byron
Street into the Brooke’s new
home.
In November it was announced that Diversified Project Management, Inc. (DPM),
a Newton, based firm had been
hired to provide comprehensive project management services for the Brooke Charter
School facility in Eastie. The
Commonwealth’s Designer
Selection Board selected the
team and the project is expected to complete for the 20142015 academic year.
DPM’s plan includes a major renovation to the existing
29,700 sq. ft. existing Savio
building, relocate one of two
Salesian houses at 619 Bennington Street to the Boys &
Girls Club parking lot across
the street, demolish the other
Salesian house at 617 Bennington Street and add a
13,100 sq. ft. addition to the
existing school building.
At the first of two meeting
held at Savio Hall last Tuesday, an attorney for the project, Jeff Drago, said DPM
would need several variances
including variances for parking, building height and use of
occupancy.
At the second meeting held
Monday at the Orient Heights
Neighborhood Council, some
attending the meeting were
concerned with Brooke’s
plans to use Cooper Street
as satellite parking for buses
waiting to pick up students at
the end of the day.
While the developer argued
the street was underutilized,
residents like Karen Buttiglieri warned that there would
be complaints from residents
if the plan were initiated.
Following a private developer’s decision to abandon
his plans to build condos at
the former Savio building last
year, Brooke, which opened
this year at the former home
of the Salesians Boys & Girls
Club on Paris Street, stepped
in and bought the building.
Currently the Brooke is
planning a 475 student, K-8
facility at Savio.
DPM is currently engaged
in similar projects for the Codman Square Health & Education Center in Boston and for
Westfield State University.
The Savio building has been
empty for several years and
requires extensive renovation.
While the Paris Street facility
is just a temporary home for
the Brooke, the Savio facility
will serve as the school’s permanent future home.
The mission of the Brooke
Charter Schools is to provide
an academically rigorous public education to students from
the city of Boston and Chelsea
that will ensure that they are
prepared to enter into suc-
ceed in college. The school is
named after Senator Edward
W. Brooke, the first AfricanAmerican elected to the U.S.
Senate and the first and only
black senator from Massachusetts. After attending Brooke
alumni are have gone on to excel in high school and college,
attending and succeeding in
schools like Milton Academy,
Boston Latin Academy, and
University of Massachusetts
– Amherst.
In 2011, The Coliseum
Investment Group, who was
responsible for the condo development at 145-147 Everett
Street, wanted to turn Savio
into 21 market-rate condominiums consisting of one
and two bedroom units as well
as studios.
Coliseum
Investment
Group signed a purchase and
sale agreement with the Salesians and 100 percent of the
proceeds from the sale was
to go to the Salesians Boys
& Girls Club located across
the street at the former Savio
Hall.
However, residents were
skeptical about the project from the beginning with
Coliseum Investment Group
unable to guarantee the community they could finance the
project.
In the end the deal fell
through and Coliseum Investment Group pulled out and
Brooke grabbed the Byron
Street property.
Architectural drawings of the renovation to the existing Savio building. The Edward Brooke Charter School plans to redevelop and expand the building as its new home in East Boston.
An aerial view of the 13,000 sq. ft. addition planned for the Savio building.
The attorney for the project, Jeff Drago, during last week’s community meeting regarding the
school project.
Architect for Miller Dyer Spears, Will Spears, goes over the project, which includes adding a
13,000 sq. ft. addition to the current Savio building.
THINK OF IT AS AN
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Edward Brooke Charter School’s Jon Clark tells residents a little about the school and its future
plans in East Boston.
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