An abandoned school in Milford is finally getting a major makeover.
Milford Middle School - built 93 years ago - has sat abandoned since 2012.
Milford School District chief financial officer Sara Croce says that’s about to change though, thanks to a capital referendum passed in Oct. 2021 authorizing the funds for a major renovation after multiple failed efforts.
“Since that time, we’ve really been working diligently with our construction manager and now we have an architect firm in place (Buck Simpers Architect + Associates) to design the building," she said. "We’ve also gone through a series of design meetings with a lot of the stakeholders in the community - staff, students, parents, and teachers in every department.”
Croce notes that they plan to salvage the three-story primary structure of the building that dates back to 1929 - but will demolish the wings added on later.
She says the result is expected to be a facility better suited to a 21st-century learning environment.
“We are kind of going through the process of the design right now," she said. "We hope to have a series of public meetings (in December) so that once we have a design plan or some renderings that we can share that the community will be able to provide some input on that and tell us kind of their thoughts, because we know this is a prominent building in the City of Milford and we’re really ready to see it come back to life.”
When completed the renovated building will hold 1,000 5th and 6th graders.
The district hopes to complete the $57,270,453
project by fall 2025.
The State is covering just over $42 million of the cost - with the district handling the rest, about $15 million.
A timeline of the plans for the school can be seen at the Milford School District website.
