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Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Names New Construction Management Team to Complete Central Library Addition and Renovation
November 3, 2005
The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library (IMCPL) board took a major step today to ensure the timely and efficient completion of the Central Library addition and renovation.
The board announced that the construction management team of Hunt Construction Group, Inc., in association with Smoot Construction, LLC., has been selected to complete construction of the Central Library at 40 East St. Clair. Hunt/Smoot also is managing construction of the new stadium for Indianapolis.
This team will take over the Transformed Central Library project, which started in 2001. Construction on that project has been managed by the Library Delivery Team, a joint venture among Trotter Construction Company, Inc., Turner Construction Company of Indiana, LLC., and Shiel Sexton. The Library Delivery Team’s contract ends in December 2005.
While the project started in 2001, it experienced an almost 16-month delay to identify and repair concrete deficiencies in the two-story underground parking garage located below the construction site. The project re-commenced on July 1, 2005.
The hiring of Hunt/Smoot to complete construction on the 293,000 square-foot addition opens a new chapter for the construction project. “The board is taking aggressive action to complete the project,” says Library CEO Linda Mielke. “The delay is behind us and we now want to complete this project as quickly as possible making the best use of public and donated funds.” The estimated $103 million project is being funded by a combination of public and philanthropic support. More than $43 million of the $102.7 million project was raised privately through the Library Foundation.
The transformed facility will house a majority of the Library’s collection of books and materials, and provide a technology-rich environment for the public. The addition will increase the number of computers available to the public by 230. It also will double Library guest seating, and add underground parking for 420 vehicles.
The transformed Central Library will be the hub for the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library system with its 22 branches throughout Marion County, and bookmobile services. IMCPL has served Marion County residents since 1873. It has a collection of more than 2.1 million items including a variety of formats: books, books on tape, magazines, large-print materials, audiocassettes, videocassettes, compact discs and DVD's.
