New home for Excel

Word is that Excel Academy has purchased the old St. Mary's Star of the Sea school building from the Archdiocese of Boston. One source put the price at $1.8 million.

Excel is a charter middle school that opened in the fall of 2003 at 1150 Saratoga Street, while St. Mary's was shut down by the archdiocese in 2008 after 120 years. There have been a number of media reports in recent years touting Excel's successes, and it's been clear for a while that the school was searching for a new home.

The St. Mary's church, across Moore Street from the school, was infamously sold in November of 2006, with the archdiocese only getting $850,000 for the property. Several weeks later, new owner Michael Indresano sold the property to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God for $2.65 million. That misstep has never been thoroughly explained.

Photo from wbztv.com

Update (7/1): A story on Page 3 of the June 30 East Boston Times starts out:

Word on the street is that Excel Academy Charter School of East Boston has purchased the building that formerly housed St. Mary’s Star of the Sea School on Moore Street from the Boston Archdiocese for a reported $1.8 million...

I don't care that their lead sounds quite similar to the opening of my blog post and I don't care if they never refer to my blog by name, but how does a story passing as legitimate journalism actually say, "Word on the street is..." Seriously, what kind of source is that?!