Lone Library Project Bid Soars $7 Million over Budget
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General Contractor bids for the Jones Library demolition/expansion/renovation project were due at
2 p.m. on April 26, 2024. Only one bid was received, from Fontaine Bros. of Springfield, at $42,742,000. This is $7,242,000 more than the $35.5 million estimated construction cost stipulated in the bid documents.
Added to this construction cost are “soft costs,” such as for furnishings, fees, and contingencies, which previously brought the total project cost estimate, last to the $46.1M authorized by the Town Council late last year. Using a similar percentage for soft costs, the total project cost would now be approximately $55 million, more than $8 million over budget.
The project has already undergone extensive “value engineering” to reduce the cost by several million dollars. How the Town Council will react to this news remains to be seen. The library building project is not currently on the Town Council’s agenda for its next meeting on Monday, April 29.
Assuming the library is able to raise the money that they have promised, the extra 7 million dollars in course will push the total town expenditures from $25 million to close to $35 million (after including interst). Paid over seven years, this means five million dollars taken out of the town budget to pay for a library, a building with considerably less value than what was originally promised and what the people of amherst voted on.
also, when the town allowed the 5 story dorms on East Pleasant, they said we should be glad about the $1mm additional taxes it will bring in, each year. Just this additional amount, with interest, will negate 10 years of that extra tax revenue
I wonder if all the numbers can be summarized easily for the lay reader. Here’s what I think at the numbers:
New estimate of about $55 million for removing the old addition to the Jones Library, a new addition, updates to the HVAC system and some energy work. Anything else for this money? And the town will pay $15 million, plus interest on borrowing $55 million (which will depending on timing of loans and reimbursement). The state will pay $15 million. And the missing $25 million will be raised by the Jones Trustees or Friends of the Jones? And they have raised how much to date (including grants and gifts)? Are these the ball park numbers for the Jones addition?
I’m recalling the cost for a new zero energy elementary school at Fort River for 575 students–with solar panels and ground source heat pumps, renovating all the fields, as well as taking down the old building…all for about $98 million with the state paying $50 million.
How many square feet for the Jones addition and how many square feet for the new Fort River school?
The Town Council authorized $46 million in borrowing, based on the old lower cost estimate. Does Town Council have to vote again to authorized $55 million in borrowing?
It’s hard to imagine how this can be justifiable in a town where the schools are facing staff cuts.
It’s time! Residents need to awake. Our town is overspending. Insist that this stops.
As you pay your May 1 Property Tax bill, realize just how much of your after tax money is being spent. Unfortunately, it appears that it is only going to get worse, if things do not change.
Roads are in terrible shape, schools are crying for help, downtown has lost so many businesses and customers. Where are we going?
It’s time to wake up from the long slumber and stop this decline. The government cannot decide how your money should be spent better than you can. Think about it.
I would encourage people to reach out to the Town Council to let their feelings about the library project be known. Their email address is: towncouncil@amherstma.gov You can also email your council member directly. Those email addresses can be found on the town website under the town council tab.
A few questions come to mind.
The rose colored glasses the planners used to examine this projected may need a prescription change. When was the last time anyone heard of a construction project coming in under budget?
By recommending the broad scope of the library renovation, the town was backed into a position where there was bound to be painful cost issues, even without covid delays or the fact that town has several other sorely needed simultaneous major capital expenditures. Was this responsible planning? Is it realistic to continue on this path?
Amherst justifiably prides itself on its intellectualism and history. Yet some are pushing for drastically cutting the school system budget so we can build a dream library? THAT would be a bitter pill to swallow.
At many steps along the way, there was an opportunity to stop this project and pivot to a plan B. For many reasons, a majority of the decision makers at each milestone chose to forge ahead.
[At Town Meeting in 2017, a close vote of 105-94 authorized applying for the MBLC grant. Notably, the 11-vote margin was due to yes votes from 11 “ex-officio” members that included the Town Manager himself, Library Trustees, School Committee, and Select Board members. ]
I can understand the desire to keep going until all avenues have been exhausted, even when the odds of success are diminished. We are now at that point, however. It was an expensive bet ($2.3m to get to this point) that bids would come in at or under budget and the capital campaign would raise the balance after the town and state’s shares. Neither has panned out, and so it’s time to pivot to priority building repairs.
Question: Does the $42.7 million amount received from the only general contractor to bid on this project include the $3.3 million allowance needed for electrical work, which apparently is a subcontracting bid that will need to be issued again? Is this project over budget by $7 million, or by $10.3 million? The information that the general contractor bids will need to carry an allowance for $3.3 million worth of electrical work was issued in Addendum 24, posted on 26 April at 8:26 am — the same day that general contractor bids were due at 2:00 pm.
Even without knowing the answer to the above question, it seems to me that there are really only two questions that remain to be answered:
1. Will the trustees still insist that the project must go forward?
2. If the answer to the first question is yes, will the Town Council finally say that Amherst cannot afford this project and put a stop to it?
From the beginning, this project has relied on wishful thinking and best-case scenarios. Neither should be a part of responsible planning for large-scale projects whose financing can be affected by circumstances beyond proponents’ control.
Certainly it is hard to have gotten to this point, only to have to face an insurmountable fiscal reality. To push forward now, in the face of so many budgetary difficulties in town, would indicate that the project is more about personal egos than it is about the overall good of the town.
But it is hardly the end. The trustees, the town, and residents now have the opportunity to step back and begin to envision different futures for the Jones — to see what was said not to be possible because only one future outcome was desired. Even without the MLBC grant, the town has committed $15 million to this project. A lot can be done with that much money.
I think it is clear, now more than ever, that the Library project is not in interests of the town. When I abstained from a vote (on the Historical Commission) to demolish the 1993 addition to the original library building, it was in part because there seemed no plan to deal with its demolition in a way consistent with the environmental and eco-friendly stances the town had and continues to take on other matters brought before us. It was one chink in the armor and revealed an irresponsible attitude. I’m sure one reason not to look more deeply into this question is that a more careful demolition and removal process would add to the costs.
I agree with Toni that it’s time to pivot and to prioritize much needed building repairs (HVAC, roof, etc), and with Denise, that we must begin to envision different futures for the Jones — to “see what was said not to be possible because only one future outcome was desired.” Coercion isn’t a good look for Amherst aside from any of the financial issues which Jeff and Maria have been analyzing to date. Like Janet, I have trouble summarizing the budget and figuring out the payments. How do these financials jive with the budgetary needs of our public schools and the work needed to be done on our roads?
To try to answer some of Janet’s questions.
The new school is 105,750 square feet. The library addition would add 15,000 sf.
Yes, the Council would have to approve a higher borrowing authorization for the project to go ahead. I estimate the total project cost is now almost $54.5 million. Considering a great deal of “value engineering” has already been done to reduce cost, I cannot imagine there are many possibilities for further cutting costs.
Regarding funding, according to the 4/1/24 Capital Campaign report, they have $2,356,854 in hand to date. Of that, $404,717 has been spent on fundraising expenses and $1,650,000 has been remitted to the Town. It’s not clear to me why the remaining ~$300,000 hasn’t been paid to the Town since the Library is $850,000 in arrears on its first promised installment to the Town.
The Capital Campaign also reports pledges totaling $7,154,506. Giving it the benefit of the doubt that every dollar of that would be realized, it brings the total to $9,511,360. At a $54.5 million cost, they are now short somewhere in the region of $13.6 million.
Regarding what now, per repeated comments by Sharon Sharry at a JL Budget Committee meeting a year ago, the Town Manager and his staff have been working on a Plan B that would involve replacing the library’s HVAC system. (Denise’s comment above re “Even without the MLBC grant, the town has committed $15 million to this project” is not correct.) The library is obligated to pay the first $1.8m of the cost of the repairs. $2.3 million has been spent by the Town to date on the project.
In 35 rears of supervising construction bidding for the City of Northampton I never saw a project do such a spectacular face plant as what just happened to the Jones Library bid.
No electrical subbids? One General Contractor bid? Project estimate way off?
Contractors have a limited amount of time to spend prepping bids. The lack of interest in the Jones Library bid speaks volumes about the confidence of construction professionals that this a viable project worth bidding.
Interesting assessment, Joe if there were such a thing as “architectural malpractice” would it go to far to suggest the Jones Library demolition/expansion project design team has been “skating pretty close to the edge”?
Rob, I am not deeply involved in the Library project to throw shade at anyone.
Something discouraged bidders and subbidders from sharpening their pencils and putting in the effort to bid on this project. The funding from the Library, or lack thereof, has been much remarked upon in our local media. Perhaps that was what discouraged interest? Why invest time bidding a project where the funding is up in the air when there are other projects with all their funding in place?
Talking to the contractors that took out bid documents but did not bid is probably on the architect’s to-do list.
I hope that at least the necessary repairs are made to the existing building. The Jones Library is a jewel in our downtown landscape as it stands, let’s preserve it.
Joe