Essex Building Committee Approves $900,000 Architect Contract for New Elementary School

ESSEX — August 26, 2025 — Essex Elementary School Building Committee unanimously approves $900,000 architectural contract with JCJ Architecture. The vote at the August 26 meeting also covered owner's project manager invoice number three for $22,921.50 and budget revision request number one, all in a single roll-call motion. JCJ Architecture, the firm that designed Manchester Memorial Elementary School, is now formally on board as architect of record, with Principal in Charge Jim Lopasta, lead designer Jeff Elliott, and educational planner Mike Carollo of MLP Integrated Design among the core team. The committee heard preliminary test-fit concepts for the existing Essex Elementary site and a second candidate parcel on Apple Street — an 11.5-acre town-owned lot adjacent to a capped landfill — with Lopasta cautioning that former agricultural use there could mean costly pesticide-contaminated soils. The committee is targeting completion of the Preliminary Design Program phase and MSBA submission in December 2025, with a first community meeting set for October 8.