LOWELL — Of the hundreds of people working on the Lowell High School rebuild and renovation project, at least two have deep roots in the city, and that hometown connection informs their passion for the work.
Suffolk Construction Senior Project Manager Pannha San Chung graduated from LHS in 1999, and Skanska Project Manager Jim Dowd grew up in the Highlands, attending Washington Elementary and what was then called the Daley Junior High School.
When they saw that their respective companies had won bids to work on the second-largest school in the commonwealth — in their own backyard — they jumped at the chance to be a part of it.
San Chung spent 20 years with another global construction company before making the leap to Suffolk in 2021. Previously, she worked on four other high school projects, including Cambridge Rindge and Latin, Methuen and Needham high schools, and Greater Lowell Technical High School.
“I personally came to Suffolk with the intention of working on this project because I graduated from here,” she said during an interview in the newly opened lobby of the school Thursday evening. “I really wanted this project.”
Although he didn’t attend LHS, Dowd likewise saw an opportunity to work on a major project in his hometown. Skanska had just completed the Winchester High School, when the company was awarded the LHS contract.
“That’s the way that it aligned,” he said, remembering that day in March 2016, when he started work on the 10-year project.
The four-phased, almost $400 million rebuilding/renovation project was approved in 2016 and broke ground in 2020. Phases 1 and 2 consisted of new construction and are completed, including the opening of the new Riddick Athletic Center and the five-story Freshman Academy.
Phases 3 and 4 involve the renovation of the existing 1892 Coburn Hall, 1922 and 1980 buildings. The entire project is expected to be complete by the summer of 2026.
Both reminisced about the transformation of the more than 100-year-old campus into a 21st-century educational model of design, engineering and learning.
For San Chung, the new bridges that connect buildings across the Merrimack Canal represent some of that innovative design that she said makes a “huge difference” in the space.
The bridges of her youth were torn down and replaced with steel and glass framing.
“[They were] always leaking, it was old, it was tight,” she said of the old so-called “hamster tubes.”
“When we would have the classes switching during periods, it was always so crowded,” San Chung said. “And now it’s so wide and open and airy.”
Dowd likewise had a firsthand childhood experience with old structures that he was part of replacing as an adult. He remembered the monolithic and fortress-like design of the old Riddick Field House. The all-brick structure had no windows, and its hulking form squatted on the corner of Father Morissette Boulevard and Arcand Drive for 40 years.
As a fifth grade student on a field trip to the Riddick in 1981, Dowd said it was “amazing” to go to what was then a brand-new gym. Four decades later he was involved in its demolition, a process that he said brought the building “full circle” for him.
“From a brand-new, state-of-the-art building and then tearing it down,” he said, trailing off. “I was here the day it hit the ground.”
Today, the five-story Freshman Academy sits on the footprint of the former Riddick gym. Both Dowd and San Chung said the new view never gets old. She took physical education classes in the old Riddick, and remembers it as very dark and dingy.
“I come down Father Morissette every morning, and when I hit this corner to make that left into the (Ayotte) parking garage, just seeing that Freshman Academy right there, versus the old Riddick, is a huge difference,” San Chung said. “And it makes this area look so nice.”
Airy and open was the look and feel design architects Perkins Eastman went for based on community focus group feedback, Dowd said. But the biggest design element of all is what Dowd called “the heart of the school.”
“The old school didn’t have a heart of the school,” Dowd said. “There were all the additions over the years, but there was no center of the school. They wanted a heart of the school right here.”
The two-story atrium acts as the main entrance, lobby and community space. The atrium connects to interior and exterior spaces within the campus, such as the cafeteria, outdoor quad, Freshman Academy and the Riddick Athletic Center. Eventually, it will also act as a gateway to the renovated 1980s building and, by way of the north and south sky bridges, to the 1922 and 1892 buildings.
A massive digital screen that posts school news and events and can play videos was oriented toward what Dowd called the grandstand. The tiered structure doubles as stairs on one side and seating on the other.
But Dowd said the best is yet to come, when the work continues with the Phase 4 renovation of the 1892 building.
“My favorite part of the school we haven’t done yet,” he said. “In the center of the 1892 building, there used to be a two-story dance hall that got cut in half and turned into two floors and made into offices.”
The mid-level that was added is going to be removed, the old two-story historic windows restored, and the dance hall restored.
“And that will be the media center library,” Dowd said.
Two years remain on the project, and Dowd and San Chung will be here to see it through. Until then, both marvel at the changes from what they grew up with to what students today and going forward will use.
“It’s a beautiful building,” San Chung said. “I’m honored to be working at my old high school. Every time I walk through I think, ‘This is my high school.’”
Dowd previously worked on the Terminal E renovations at Logan Airport, and he has a personal interest in connecting and moving people seamlessly through large, complex spaces.
“I like seeing in this building and any building that you’re building — finally seeing it operate,” he said. “Seeing people use it for its intended use … that’s the most satisfaction. Kids move through the space. Generations of students will be able to use this building.”