Construction of Library Costs $2M in September. Capital Campaign Reports $500K Pledge

At the October 14 meeting of the Jones Library Building Committee (JLBBC) members reviewed and approved six invoices totaling $2,064,079.29 in expenses to the Town.

Largest was $1,932,728 billed by Fontaine Brothers, the general contractor.  The invoice included no additional change orders. To date Fontaine has billed $5,424,575 for work completed, with $31,347,227 remaining to bill for the project.

Atlas charged $25,812 for asbestos monitoring services.  Regular monthly expenses included $63,250 to Finegold Alexander Architects (FAA) for construction administration services, $19,254 to Colliers for project management, and $21,078 to Slobody Development for rent.

OPM Trey Logie of Colliers reported that the project is within budget and on schedule. However when asked if anything unexpected had come up, Logie mentioned a couple examples.

During demolition of the basement, workers were surprised to encounter a slab underneath the main slab.  “It’s just one of those unforeseen conditions that we have contingencies for,” explained Logie. “To be honest, [considering] how historic this building is and how drastic of a change all of this is to the building, we really haven’t run into too many crazy conditions,” he said.

Another issue Logie raised was the large number of questions from contractors related to the construction documents that had been prepared by FAA.  These came in the form of RFIs or requests for information.

Hundreds of RFIs can cause the architect to “become a little overwhelmed and a little bogged down,” Logie said.

“I will say that the architect has stepped his game up in the last two weeks, but in the very initial part of that they were a little behind in getting contractors information that they were requesting.”

FAA is scheduled to earn $2,785,000 for design and construction administration associated with the library project.

Capital Campaign Receives Large Pledge
Jones Library Capital Campaign Co-chair Lee Edwards reported to the Budget & Investment Committee on October 14 that the fundraisers received more than $500,000 in new pledges and cash gifts last month.

“$500,000 was a pledge and $800 was in cash contributions,” she reported.

The large donor and the timetable for fulfilling the pledge were not identified. There was no mention of any more funds being remitted by the Library to the town to meet the Trustees’ commitment to pay $13,822,518 of the project costs.  They have contributed $3.7 million so far.

Uncertainty Around New Library Move-in Date
The library staff, who have been operating out of a temporary location at 101 University Drive in Amherst, are starting to focus on moving back into the renovated and expanded Jones Library at 43 Amity St., according to Director Sharon Sharry.

“That will happen in a year – sooner rather than later – so it will go like that,” she said.

“You really think that they’re going to be moving back in a year from October?” asked trustee Edwards.

“Maybe closer to December,” admitted Sharry.

“I just thought I looked at the actual sheets that are coming in from the contractor, and the last time I looked, it wasn’t until the spring of 2027,” Edwards pointed out.

“It’ll be January, February-ish,” stated Sharry.