On October 29, the school officially purchased 197 Coolidge Hill, a property bordering the Upper School (US) and owned by Tiron Pechet ’81.
Head of School Jen Price and Board of Trustees Chair Charles Brizius P’24 ’21 ’19 informed the school of the acquisition in a letter Friday afternoon as the community was breaking for the long Veterans Day weekend.
“This property, located directly north of the Nicholas Athletic Center, had been the longtime home of a BB&N alumnus and his family,” the letter read. “We are extremely grateful for the opportunity he gave us to present an offer prior to the property going to market.”
The letter went on to provide the details of the property, a 0.8-acre lot and a 6,250 square-foot home, where, in the short term, Dr. Pechet will remain.
After the death of Dr. Pechet’s father—Maurice Pechet P’81 ’83 ’86 ’89 ’96—in 2012, the Board of Trustees began working with the Pechet family to purchase their home on 30 Gerry’s Landing Road (“Upper School campus expands,” Vol. 44, No. 4). That property, which the school officially acquired in 2015, combined with 197 Coolidge Hill increases the US campus size by 20 percent, according to the letter.
The property is an exciting strategic acquisition for the school, Mr. Brizius told The Vanguard.
“An opportunity to acquire adjacent land to our campus is rare, and we were excited to be in a position to make this move,” Mr. Brizius said.
Dr. Pechet also expressed enthusiasm for the transaction.
“I was very blessed to have had the opportunity and privilege of attending BB&N,” Dr. Pechet told The Vanguard, “and I am truly glad that the property will become part of an amazing institution.”
The property will eventually serve the school’s long-term effort to restructure its campuses.