Latham Centers
Brewster, MA
Copyright © 2021 – Equity Schools, Inc
Latham Centers provides special education and therapeutic services for youth and adults on a residential campus in Brewster, MA. Latham had been trying to develop an expansion campus since acquiring a site seven years earlier, but numerous delays and failed financing efforts had stalled the project.
In the meantime, extreme overcrowding and outdated facilities at the main campus had reached almost unbearable levels, further complicated by the pandemic. The dedicated staff were doing their best to provide education and therapy, but they were overworked and under enormous stress. Uncertainty about when or how an expansion campus could provide relief made operational planning difficult and added to the stress.
Goals
Latham’s immediate need was to develop an expansion campus to better serve their youth, at the same time freeing up space at their main campus and ideally providing additional programming for their adults.
Challenges
We had to create something better than the previous plans, but at about half the previous estimated costs in order to secure financing. Timing was a serious pressure mostly due to Latham’s great needs, but also because both construction costs and interest rates were rapidly rising.
Results
We worked closely with Latham to redesign the expansion campus, enhancing its educational and therapeutic capacity for the specific types of needs involved, and improving operational functionality, while dramatically reducing the project cost.
Financing was secured in 2022 (from a fairly unusual source), and construction should commence soon – roughly one year from the time Latham first called Equity Schools.