WALTHAM, MA — The Massachusetts School Building Authority voted Thursday to green light a $118,373,814 grant for a new high school at the former home of the Stigmatine Fathers and Brothers religious order.

"I am very happy for the children and tax payers of Waltham," Mayor Jeannette McCarthy told Patch. This announcement was long in coming after years of back and forth with the former landowners. Just last month, the City Council approved spending an additional $11 million to the $18 million already spent to take the property by eminent domain, raising the total cost of the property to $29 million.

"It is a huge step forward in the process," Interim Superintendent of Waltham Schools George Frost told Patch."There are more steps to take but this approval is critical to move the project forward." The new high school is expected to serve 1,830 students and cost $374,567,387, making it one of the most expensive high schools in Massachusetts to date.



For years, the superintendent's office has been beating the drum about a need for an upgrade to the high school in order to accommodate increased enrollment and upgrade from deteriorating building conditions.

The current high school building is 449,700 square feet and was built in 1968, with additions made in 1998 and 2002. The state of the high school falls below standards, and raises the prospect that the city could lose accreditation of its high school over the next few years, unless significant progress is made on the building.