January 16 Note: Bid opening date has been changed to Wednesday, January 28.
The Lake City Branch of The Seattle Public Library has moved into the construction phase with the call for a general contractor to build a civic center that includes an expanded branch library, a relocated neighborhood service center, public plaza, park improvements, and a parking garage.
Contractors are invited to submit bids by 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21 to the Contracting Services Division of the City of Seattle, Department of Executive Administration, at its office in the Key Tower, Suite 4112, P.O. Box 94687, 700 Fifth Ave., Seattle, WA 98124. For more information, contact the project architect: Stacie Netherby, ARC Architects, 1101 E. Pike St., Seattle, WA 98122-3915, (206) 322-3322.
A mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 16, at the existing Lake City Neighborhood Service Center, 12707 30th Ave. N.E., meeting room. City and Library staff members and the architects will be present to review the project requirements.
The project includes expanding the 9,013-square-foot Lake City Branch to 15,289 square feet, a 4,994- square-foot neighborhood service center, improvements to the Albert Davis Park, and a 62-car underground parking garage topped by a public plaza. The owner’s estimate for the project is $5,590,000.
The project will feature an updated collection capacity of 66,700 books and materials, more seats, a meeting room, upgraded technology and more space for books. The existing branch was built in 1965.
Seattle’s Landmarks Preservation Board voted in June 2001 to designate the branch as a landmark building and the Library has worked with the landmarks board throughout the design process to preserve the architectural character of the building.
Designers at ARC Architects designed the branch expansion to create a civic presence for the expanded branch and neighborhood service center, preserving the entrance courtyard and its bronze gates designed by renowned Seattle artist and sculptor George Tsutakawa. Hewitt Architects designed the parking garage, plaza and the park improvements.
Images of the design for the branch and neighborhood service center may be viewed at http://www.spl.org/lfa/neighborhoodlibs/lakecity/lcydesigns.html.
The building also will include artwork by artists Linda Haworth and Jane Grafton. Haworth and Grafton are creating glass walls that will embody cast-glass objects that represent the theme “Collections” for the expanded branch and neighborhood service center. A steel framework will hold the glass walls.
Construction work is expected to begin in early spring 2004, which will allow the branch to stay open through early February.
The $3,788,201 branch expansion project is part of the $196.4 million “Libraries for All” bond measure that Seattle voters passed in 1998. The bond money, which can be used only for construction of libraries, is funding a new central library and new and improved branches. The $72 million Seattle Center/Community Centers levy that Seattle voters passed in 1999 will fund the neighborhood service center.
To date, the Library has completed the Capitol Hill, Delridge, NewHolly and Wallingford branches. The expanded Rainier Beach Branch will reopen at noon Saturday, Jan. 17, 2004. The Central Library and the Ballard, Beacon Hill, Columbia, Green Lake, Greenwood, High Point, Lake City, North East, and West Seattle branches are currently in the construction phase and planning and design is under way for many other branches.
The Seattle Public Library Foundation is in the midst of a “Campaign for Seattle’s Public Libraries” with the goal of raising $77.5 million from private sources to enhance the public bond commitment. Every dollar raised will ensure the Library system reflects our community’s needs in buildings, books, technology and people, long into the future. For more information about “Libraries for All” or the Foundation, visit the Library’s Web site at www.spl.org.
(For more information, call Caroline Young Ullmann, communications assistant, 206-615-1627.)
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Content modified: 16 January 2004
12/30/2005
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