Photo: Kyle Bray/WBZ NewsRadio
MALDEN, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A former fish factory located across the street from Malden Catholic High School has now become the school’s new athletics and academics building.
In an effort to meet rising enrollment, Malden Catholic turned to buying the building which ultimately ceased operations in 2015.
The former factory owned by Viking Seafoods Inc. has been a long-time neighbor to the school and opened its doors in 1956, while the school was founded in 1932.
“All of our alums who’ve come back that were here when that was in operation, the first thing they tell us is they remember the smell of fried fish coming across the field,” said school president John Thornburg.
The owners of Viking Seafood lowered their asking price that enabled Malden Catholic to purchase the building. The original building was demolished and the school built a brand new $31 million building in its place.
“[The original asking price for the Viking Seafoods building] was more than we could ever afford, thankfully our board chair at the time, Mr. Jim Donovan, walked across the street and said would you be willing to do something nice for Catholic education,” said Thornburg.
The new building which opened its doors to students this fall is comprised of three stories and features a weight room, gym, turf field, specialized classrooms and classrooms for the newly introduced middle school program.
President Thornburg spoke about the specialized classrooms that make up the second floor of the building and talked about how they will help students.
“The second floor has 4 state of the art high school classrooms, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, a STEM makers space and a bio-medical room, all those prepare our high school students for real world experience,” said Thornburg.
Thornburg also spoke about what he and other staff at the school are hoping will come from the new building and how it will benefit students.
“We’re hoping this is going to better prepare them for college, it’s going to make our sports teams more competitive, and our enrollment will continue to remain as strong as it’s been,” said Thornburg.
WBZ NewsRadio’s Kyle Bray (@KyleBrayWBZ) reports.