East Bridgewater Select Board Awards Gilbane Central Elementary School Construction Contract

EAST BRIDGEWATER — February 2, 2026 — East Bridgewater Select Board unanimously hires Gilbane to manage construction of new Central Elementary School. The board voted 3-0 Monday to award Gilbane Building Company the Construction Manager at Risk contract for the Central Elementary School project, drawn from an existing $1.5 million feasibility budget with a $150,000 pre-construction services package requiring no new town appropriation. Alyssa Chatani and Kevin Sullivan of Leftfield LLC, the town's owner's project manager, told the board that Gilbane ranked first among nine pre-qualified firms interviewed January 15 and 16, with the Building Committee accepting the recommendation January 21. Early site preloading — expected to generate 60 to 90 truckloads of fill per day for roughly six weeks — is set to begin on the former softball field in late February, with a police detail on Route 18 to manage construction traffic. The board also heard that MBTA zoning noncompliance has cost the town eligibility for grants ranging from public safety equipment to a $648 Council on Aging mini-grant, with a potential $1 million culvert project among the unfunded needs, and that East Bridgewater is one of nine communities now named in an Attorney General's lawsuit over noncompliance.