It took years of planning, a referendum and several city council votes that almost iced it, but the Jones Library renovation project is moving forward in Amherst, Massachusetts. WAMC spoke with the library’s director about what comes next for the building and its books.
A year ago, on the brink of moving forward, plans to expand and renovate the almost-century-old library on Amity Street hit a major snag.
It was late April when bids for a general contractor were due – and the town only received one, totaling $42.7 million from the Fontaine Brothers company in Springfield. The total project’s bond cap is $46.1 million, but the bid was 20 percent higher than what was planned for a general contractor.
It sent the library’s Board of Trustees and stakeholders in search of ways to cutback, ditching amenities and some of the project's designs in the process - moves that attracted some criticism from locals, who voiced concern when it came to historic preservation.
A year later, the board’s efforts came to a head.
“I'm confident that, where we are now, with the signed contract, with the MBLC’s commitment, we'll be able to begin this project,” said Town Manager Paul Bockelman during a town council meeting in late-April. “We think the launch date will be in mid-June - that's when the contractor will begin to set up fencing and things like that.”
Bockelman and the town recently inked a general contractor deal – with Fontaine Brothers, no less, after the project went out to bid again last year and the outfit submitted one for $35.7 million.
The contract signing came on the heels of the council shooting down a rescission vote targeting the project’s borrowing authorizations as critics called the project’s financial feasibility into question, citing costs potentially rising, grants being cancelled, and other factors.
Now, though, the 48,000-square-foot, multi-story library is getting ready for a makeover, with its last day of operations scheduled for May 14.
Library Director Sharon Sharry says she’s partly celebrating while planning to move staff and thousands of books off-site.
“The fact that we are moving forward is so exciting - especially now, when it is more important than ever that public libraries [and] school systems be funded,” she told WAMC. “The fact that ... here's the town of Amherst putting in resources, to be able to provide a better library, so that people in this community and surrounding towns have access to free information… it’s pretty awesome.”
The renovation plans are at least a decade in the making – addressing issues like a leaking atrium, an obsolete heating and cooling system, and spaces library officials say are no longer able to handle programming demands or the preservation efforts it currently houses.
The building will now be enlarged to around 63,000-square feet, with more space for programs and services and upgrades to modernize the structure, while also preserving and rehabbing parts of the building that go back to its 1928 origins, like a good portion of its historic woodwork.
Speaking of preserved, plans that were mothballed last year to move Jones Library offerings to nearby 101 University Drive are back on – it’s just a matter of securing a moving company, Sharry says.
“We will move the stuff there - give us a couple of weeks to unpack, and then we will reopen,” she explained. “We'll have an open-house-kind-of-a-thing, because we will be located there for two years while construction happens here. We are also working on programming plans - while the 101 University Dr space doesn't have meeting rooms, it doesn't have programming space - it doesn't mean library programs will stop."
Sharry adds the site is on a bus line, is handicap accessible and has plenty of nearby parking.
As work on the library appears ready to start soon, fundraising for it will only continue, the Jones Library Capital Campaign says. With the town bonding for the whole $46.1 million project, the JLCC is responsible for $13 million of that - and has $7 million left to secure.
According to Campaign Manager Ginny Hamilton, the JLCC has already remitted over $1.65 million to the town.
Also funding the project – a massive $15 million worth of grants from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, the town’s own share of $16 million and various other local, state and federal grants and programs.
