FAYETTEVILLE -- The design of the Fayetteville Public Library's expansion is nearly complete and should be going before city officials for approval before the year's out, architects and library leaders said Monday.
The two-story expansion will roughly double the library's square footage by extending southward from the library's curved, glass-paneled exterior overlooking the city's south. Renderings presented to the library's board Monday depict a structure following the site's downward slope and built with deep-red brick interspersed with ground-to-roof windows.
The idea is for an extension that complements but doesn't copy the current building, said Jack Poling of the Minneapolis-based architecture firm Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle. If all goes to plan, construction could begin early next year.
A multipurpose room, landscaped courtyard, deli, new entry and dedicated sections for young children and teens will give enough space for more than 1,000 people at library events and for an expanded library collection, according to the firm. Fayetteville voters in 2016 approved a 2.7-mill property tax increase, or $54 extra for every $100,000 in assessed property, to help cover the project and library operations.
The work should all come to around the $49 million total budget with a few more tweaks, Poling said.
Board member Sallie Overbey called the plan wonderful, and board treasurer Maylon Rice led a round of applause after the presentation.
"I thought it was fantastic," board member Hershey Garner said.
Garner had one concern about the brick choice -- the rendering depicted the brick as essentially black, but Poling and other designers assured him the program couldn't display the actual color. The real material should be a rich, dark reddish color with a kind of luster or sheen to it, they said. Rice said a different color could be helpful and Garner said he wants to see it in person.
"I want it to blend, I want it to look like the same building that's up there," he said after the meeting.
Outside sidewalks will help connect the entire structure to the downtown square and the future arts corridor to Dickson Street, which the city is putting together with the help of a Walton Family Foundation grant, Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle architect Kate Michaud said. Interior designer Leanne Larson said the inside will feature accents of cherry, the same wood featured prominently in the library.
Library Director David Johnson said the expansion will bring everything voters expect; Garner said it will bring even more than promised, pointing to the deli and a planned innovation center and media studio.
The extension will be built on the former City Hospital property, where demolition began earlier this month. Johnson said he expects that to be finished by the end of September. Construction should wrap up within a year or two.
Poling said it's not clear yet whether the library can stay open during construction, but other libraries he's worked with that tried to stay open have wished they hadn't.
Mike Ehrig, 78, attended the meeting and said he's been going to Fayetteville's library since opening day at its old East Dickson Street location half a century ago. Now he goes weekly. He wanted to make sure the expansion would be accessible to older folks with less mobility; the designers said it will have plenty of level entries and elevators.
"I'm very proud of what the library is doing," Ehrig told the board. He said after the meeting he'd "hate to see it down for any time" during construction.
Johnson said Mayor Lioneld Jordan and his chief of staff, Don Marr, will see the plan Tuesday, and other city officials will get a look soon to help smooth the project approval process.
NW News on 07/31/2018