Hingham Center for Active Living Bids Come In at $25.8 Million, Below Warrant Estimate

HINGHAM — April 13, 2026 — Hingham bids for proposed Center for Active Living come in at $25.8 million, $4 million below the warrant estimate. The Select Board held a final public information session Monday, with Town Administrator Tom Mayo announcing that contractor bids received the prior week came in well below the $29.9 million figure published in the town warrant — a $5.8 million reduction from the original feasibility study projection. The project, a 25,950-square-foot senior center on Bearcrow Park Drive, requires a two-thirds vote at town meeting and a subsequent ballot majority under Proposition 2 and a half, with borrowing structured in three phases beginning with a roughly $15 million bond anticipation note in FY27. Projected year-one operating cost increases total $239,301, including one new full-time custodian at $87,000. The Advisory Committee voted 9 to 5 in favor — below the required two-thirds threshold — and residents pressed the board on cumulative tax pressures, intergenerational access policy, and a 5-point gap between two senior population projections cited in planning documents.