MERIDEN — The district has moved a step closer to building a new Pulaski Elementary School on the site of the former Meriden-Wallingford Hospital at 1 King Place. “We are excited that the Pulaski project has been included on the state’s school construction list,” Meriden school Superintendent Mark Benigni said in a statement. This clears the way for the city to receive funding to demolish the former hospital and make way for construction of a new state-of-the-art Pulaski Elementary School, Benigni said last week. “I want to thank everyone involved in making this happen, as this is terrific news for the entire city of Meriden,” he said. The $122 million Pulaski project is expected to receive a state reimbursement rate of 90%, Benigni said. The school district is hoping for work to begin in the winter, he said, with a first step of demolishing the former hospital. “This project will help change the face of downtown,” state Rep. Jack Fazzino, a Democrat who represents part of Meriden, said in a Facebook post. The former hospital has been a decades-long problem, said state Rep. Michael Quinn, D-Meriden. There have been many proposals over the years to rehabilitate or demolish the structure, but no action has ever been taken, he said. “This plan solves that problem and also solves the problem of the current Pulaski school,” he said in an interview.
Meriden’s $122M Pulaski school project added to the state school construction list
