Leominster is set to break ground on its new Fall Brook Elementary School on Nov. 19, marking the start of construction after five years of planning and design work. The public, students, parents and municipal officials are all welcome to attend the ceremony at the school site, which organizers say will go forward rain or shine.
The groundbreaking was announced by the Leominster School Committee during a facilities and infrastructure update at its regular meeting, according to MassLive. The outlet's reporting lists the ceremony's start time as either 9 or 9:30 a.m., and it was not clear from available materials which time is correct. The new building is designed as a modern educational facility refined through subcommittee planning, according to the same report.
Replacing a 60-Year-Old Building
The project will replace a Fall Brook Elementary building constructed in 1966 that received only minor updates in 2006 and 2012, per the outlet's report. The current school lacks space for music, art and STEM programs and is missing modern security and fire protection systems, the report notes. Once the new school opens, the existing building will be demolished, the same account states.
District officials cited outdated mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, along with accessibility and building-envelope issues and existing and projected overcrowding, as deficiencies driving the replacement, according to the Massachusetts School Building Authority. The MSBA approved the project in April 2025 to serve students in kindergarten through grade 5 on the site of the existing facility, with a design enrollment of 610 students, per board documents.
State Funding and a Shifting Price Tag
The state board voted to approve a grant of up to $63,292,064 toward the project, with reimbursement set at 79.93% of approved eligible costs, excluding owner's and construction contingency expenditures, according to MSBA board minutes. Cost estimates for the project have varied across reporting. In January 2025, the Sentinel & Enterprise put the project at an estimated $110 million. By April 2025, MSBA board minutes listed a total project budget of approximately $114.8 million, including roughly $89.8 million in construction costs.
The building's size has also been described differently depending on the source and date. The Sentinel & Enterprise's January 2025 report described a two-story, 105,000-square-foot facility approximately 40% larger than the existing school, while MassLive's June 2026 coverage described the new two-story building as 30% larger than the current one, with dedicated space for art, music, English Language Learners and STEM programs.
Timeline Has Moved Since Early Planning
The Fall Brook project traces back to June 2021, when Leominster submitted a statement of interest to the MSBA, according to the Sentinel & Enterprise. Early site and preparation work started in June 2026 ahead of construction on site, per the project's own schedule page. Early site work began on a Wednesday that month to prepare for a new building on Decicco Drive, MassLive reported at the time.
The main construction package's Notice to Proceed was scheduled for Oct. 19, with construction expected to take about two years once it begins, per the same MassLive report. Expected completion dates have shifted in coverage as well: the Sentinel & Enterprise's January 2025 report said the city anticipated classes beginning in January 2029, while MassLive's June 2026 report said the new building should open in fall 2028, with all construction activities completed around October 2029.
An invitation attributed to Leominster-area event listings describes the groundbreaking ceremony as jointly hosted by the City of Leominster and Leominster Public Schools, inviting the community to “join the City of Leominster and the Leominster Public Schools for the Fall Brook Elementary School Project Groundbreaking Ceremony.”
