Ground broken on library project

Wed, Mar 26, 2008

In front of a 1966 cornerstone, Loutit District Library officials broke ground Tuesday on the 2008 chapter of the library's story.

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The groundbreaking was a symbolic beginning to LDL's renovation and expansion project — an undertaking that really got off the ground last May when voters approved the then-$11.4 million project.

The cost has since dropped to $9.8 million due to a favorable construction bidding market this winter.

"This is a very significant day," said LDL Board of Trustees President Jeff Beswick. "I'm excited that we're able to take the first step in providing the kind of facility that our community and patrons deserve — one that can house all of our materials, serve our program needs, and let us do all of the neat things that we just couldn't offer or provide in our current building."

Alongside Beswick for the groundbreaking were the rest of the board members; LDL Director Sandie Knes; state Rep. Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive; representatives from general contractor Triangle Associates Inc.; and representatives from the project architectural firm, The Troyer Group. Other local leaders were also on hand to witness the ceremony.

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Bill Anderson, director of the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries, spoke briefly to the audience that gathered for the ceremony. He congratulated the community for making an investment in its public library.

"I believe a library is the most welcoming place in a community," said Anderson. "I'm excited because I know how much this library means to you now, and how much this new and expanded library will mean to you in the future."

The project will see LDL's existing building gutted and re-done, and 21,500 square feet of new space added to the north end of the building along Fulton Avenue. The completed building will contain around 49,000 square feet of space, Knes said.

The new main entrance will be along Fourth Street, in the middle of the building, to connect the two halves. A second entrance with a handicap-accessible ramp will remain along Columbus Avenue.

Parking will be available both under the expanded half of the building and on land the library purchased at the corner of Fourth and Columbus.

Knes and the board began meeting with architects well before the May 2007 vote, working to develop a project the community would support. But talk of expanding LDL's services began in the early 1990s, Knes said.

"I've looked back at what the staff was saying in the early '90s, and already then they were saying, 'We need more space, we need to add to the collection,'" said Knes. "Our patrons wanted more and more services and items in the collection, we were serving more and more people, and it all took up more and more space."

The library went through a series of failed expansion proposals over the years, including a plan for a new building on Robbins Road, and another idea to move into an existing strip mall — which is, coincidentally, now the location of LDL's temporary facility during the construction project.

But it was this plan — one that kept the library in its downtown location — that resonated with voters, said Beswick. The board launched a capital campaign last January to reduce the cost to taxpayers, and 268 donors contributed a total of $1.6 million toward the project.

"We really owe a debt of gratitude to our donors, and to the voters as well," said Beswick. "I think everyone has been very focused on building a library that this community will support."

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Knes said it was "a relief" to break ground on the project.

"It's so exciting to finally be to a place where we can have a new library and do all the things we've been wanting to do for so many years," she said. "It's finally going to happen! I'd like to say I could just take a deep breath and relax — but I doubt I'll be able to do much of that until 2009 (when the project is scheduled to be completed)."

Beswick said much of the heavy construction equipment will move in next week. It will be kept in a staging area at the corner of Fourth and Columbus.

Demolition of some of the interior spaces in the existing building could start as early as next week, Beswick said. The building had been undergoing asbestos abatement, which Knes said was completed at the end of last week.

The library is currently operating out of its temporary location at 1051 S. Beacon Blvd., in the South Shore Plaza. It will remain there until the construction project is completed in the summer of 2009.

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On the Net:

www.loutitlibrary.org