GREENFIELD — The last of the foundation for the new Greenfield Public Library was poured Wednesday, according to Architect Philip O’Brien.
“When you drive by, it’ll kind of look like they didn’t do anything,” O’Brien told members of the Library Building Committee Thursday evening. “It’ll be very smooth when they backfill around it from the street, because the foundation only sticks up a bit.”
O’Brien said the project, underway at the Main Street lot of the now-demolished fire station, is on schedule for the steel to arrive Feb. 21.
“Pretty soon thereafter they’ll start to put up some columns and beams,” he said.
O’Brien said the structure will go through a “series of changes” that will impact the way the size of the building is perceived.
“I would caution to hold on and wait for it to close in,” he said. “It’s been an empty spot in the sky there for a long time, so it’ll take a little getting used to.”
In 2019 — seven years after the vision for a new library was first discussed — Greenfield voters approved building a new library with a 61% positive vote. The $19.5 million appropriation accounts for construction costs as well the cost of the architect, project manager, furniture and fixtures, Library Building Committee Co-Chair Ed Berlin said previously.
In addition to a $9.4 million grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, the Greenfield Public Library Foundation had said it would contribute about $2 million, reducing the city’s cost to about $8.1 million. The foundation recently announced it had reached its $2 million goal.
Contractors are continuing to work on site work, O’Brien said, including bringing the rear portion of the property up to grade, and installing drainage structures and a stormwater retention system near the parking lot.
“Other than that, they’ve told us they’re generally on schedule,” he said. “The next critical path item is steel, and if that shows up on or around Feb. 21, I think we’ll be looking pretty good.”
Project Manager Dan Pallotta added that his team is heating the ground to prevent frost.
“There’s a boiler on site that’s heating anywhere that needs to be defrosted or kept to a certain temperature,” he said. “Even in those bitter cold days, we didn’t come out of specification.”
He showed committee members a photo of the site, which depicted a rectangular hole in the ground where the restrooms are slated to go.
As for a budget update, he said there haven’t been many change orders of note in the last month. The expectation of change orders, he explained, is why contingency funds are built into the budget.
“This is awesome for the project,” Pallotta said. “We’re four months, five months into construction … and we have $23,000 worth of changes. I would have to say you’re hitting a home run ball, maybe even a grand slam. We’re in tremendously good shape.”
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne