By Nick Grabbe
The Jones Library renovation and expansion project is on hold this week after the single construction bid came in $6.5 million above the estimate.
The project, which was expected to begin construction in a few months, is now at risk as supporters try to come up with a new funding plan. At stake is not only a modern, energy-efficient library, but also the potential loss of $23 million in funding commitments and the prospect of spending millions on basic repairs.
“Everyone will be at the table this week trying to figure out what’s possible,” said Ginny Hamilton, the capital campaign manager, on Sunday.
There are no obvious solutions. The Town Council, while overwhelmingly supporting the project, has said that it won’t go above the $15.8 million it has promised to borrow. Amherst College has already pledged $1 million. State officials have upped their contributions. The capital campaign already had not reached its goal before Friday’s bid bombshell.
“If fundraising falls short, it’s the responsibility of the Jones Library trustees to make up the difference,” Hamilton wrote in the Amherst Current in November.
The estimated cost of the project, which was $36.3 million in 2021, had risen to $46.1 million before the one contractor’s bid was opened Friday. The main reason for the exploding expense was a steep increase in construction costs after the pandemic hit. Delays in the decade-old project caused by opponents of the project played a role, too.
In a 2021 referendum, 65 percent of voters approved the Jones Library project. It has been questioned since then by some, because of the increased costs and, more recently, the regional school budget gap.
If Amherst should lose $23 million in funding for a public building that doesn’t have to come from local taxes, it will bring to mind the elementary school turmoil of eight years ago. A minority of Town Meeting members scuttled the plan for building the school at the Wildwood site and creating an early elementary program at Crocker Farm. Although state funding was received for the new school under construction at the Fort River site, the cost of the delay has been estimated at over $20 million.
The tax increases to pay for the new elementary school will start appearing in bills in a few months.
The Jones Library, which is used by an estimated 230,000 people a year, has serious infrastructure problems. The atrium leaks, and during heavy rain last August, the library had to close for three days. The heating and cooling system is unreliable and leaks in Special Collections. The building is not fully accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
All of these problems would be addressed in the renovation project. In addition, it would significantly reduce fossil fuel use and provide a better space for children and teenagers, tutoring rooms for the ESL program, more public computers, and first-floor restrooms.
If the project is unable to go forward, it is estimated that Amherst will need to spend up to $20 million just for repairs while forgoing the climate and program improvements.
So abandoning the project would be a bitter pill to swallow. Adding to the sense of urgency, the library faces a June 30 deadline for signing a construction contract.
Find general information about the Jones Library building project here, and read related articles here.
Nick Grabbe is a co-founder of The Amherst Current. He has been a resident of Amherst for nearly 40 years and served as writer and editor for the Amherst Bulletin and the Daily Hampshire Gazette 1980-2013.
THE AMHERST CURRENT 
“…had risen to $46.1 million before the one contractor’s bid was opened Friday.”
Does that mean the total with the bid is 46.1 + 6.5 = $52.6 million?
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Hi Rick, roughly yes. The total cost has to include expenses to date plus adequate contingency funds in addition to the general contractor bid.
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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?
230,000 people visit per year? That means, on average, 630 people visiting every day of the year, or that every single permanent resident of Amherst visits the library at least once a month. Does this seems likely? How are visits tracked?
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.
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Thanks for reporting on this development. If I’m reading correctly, the estimated cost was most recently raised to $46.1 M and the bid received Friday was for $52.6 M.
Interested to know who is the contractor, why was only one bid reviewed, and had the planners not mentioned the project cost cap?
Tom Porter
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We too are disappointed that the project received only one bid and shocked at the cost.
It’s significantly out of line with all cost estimates to date as well as the sub-contractor bids, which were on budget.
The building project team & town hall finance folks are looking into these questions in order to see what the possible next steps are.
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The estimated cost of the Jones Library construction was $35.5 million. This does not include ‘soft costs’ such as architect fees. Fontaine Brothers (the only contractor that bid on the project) concluded it would cost them $42.7 million to do the work.
Bids higher than the estimated cost are possible. Bids for the Webster MA High School project closed in January. The $78 million estimated cost was exceeded by 3 bidders with one bidder $7.2 million above the estimated cost. One bidder came in just below the estimated mark (perhaps encouraging news for the upcoming bidding on the Amherst Elementary project).
Receiving a small number of bids is possible. The Belmont MA Public Library project was estimated at $30 million. Bids closed a month ago. One bid hit the target, another was $3.3 million above the estimated cost. The North Andover Middle School Addition had only two bids last year, both higher than the $17.9 million estimated cost.
By my count, six contractors with experience in municipal buildings obtained documents needed to submit a bid for the Jones Library project. Unfortunately, only one contractor followed through. Perhaps this is because it is a complicated project; a delicate demolition, a complex matching of old and new parts, and historic restoration.
All the numbers above are from biddocs.com.
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Could this have to do with the 22 addenda containing more than 1100 pages in response to requests for information from prospective bidders? Something seems out of line here.
And is it too late to get a construction manager involved to see how to get this project back on track? Not clear why this was a “design-bid-build” project to begin with. For the second time under Finegold Alexander’s managership the project is over budget and construction hasn’t even begun. Architects expertise is in design, not in understanding labor, supply chain and cost of materials issues. A hard bid strategy is risky in times of inflation. Why didn’t Finegold Alexander consider preconstruction? That is, why didn’t they get contractors involved much earlier in the process? The Construction Manager at Risk delivery system, for example, is designed to minimize risk for projects that are tightly budgeted like the Jones Library Project, and to improve the delivery timeline.
The current strategy leaves us in the same position we were in a year ago. And with continued delays and no additional revenue in sight, it is increasingly unlikely that this project will ever get off the ground.
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Stupid question probably, but I assume it’s too late to change the design to something simpler? Probably yes because you have to stick with the plan submitted to the state? I see there is a June deadline for contract signing which would obviously not be possible with a new design.
It’s not out of the question to reboot, right? Start over with simpler design? Yeah, lots more time will pass, but so be it.
I have not been following this that closely so this may be idiotic talk. 😉
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My understanding is that the square footage needs to remain the same for the state funding source. Beyond that, I’m not sure either.
It seems foolish to scrap the entire plan when the town will have to contribute the same amount of money (or possibly more) for repairs to the old building, and get nothing out of it.
I think rebooting makes sense. But currently there is a June 30 deadline for signing a construction contract. Is there wiggle room there? Is it too late to bring in a construction manager to streamline the design? A construction buddy said the 22 addenda in response to RFIs from prospective bidders (which came in at 1100 pages by the way) would have put him off the project.
It’s clearly too late for CMAR, but perhaps changes could still be made that would comply with state funding and bring the overall cost down.
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The Town Manager, town hall finance folks, Library leaders, the architects, and the Owners Project Manager* have met multiple times since this announcement on Friday. They’re exploring the options, including whether the MBLC extension is possible. I personally have not been part of those meetings. (My job is managing the fundraising aspect for the nonprofit Friends of the Jones.) It is my understanding that they are working on options to share publicly for discussions with the Building Committee & Trustees in the next two weeks.
* Yes, there has been a professional construction project management firm involved since the early stages.
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It would be good if Town residents were informed about all of the potential costs for all of the capital projects we face. School, Library, Fire, DPW and Senior Center. And granted, these are large and costly numbers. But an awareness of these total costs may help find lower cost paths forward. It is wrong to just consider one project at a time and not know what all of the costs will. When voters approved the Library Expansion were they fully aware of all of these costs and property tax impacts?
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“When voters approved the Library Expansion were they fully aware of all of these costs and property tax impacts?”
I doubt it. They could have been aware, but it takes some work to do. It does not really mention anything about that on the ballot question.
It’s confusing, but I believe that since the library question was just about authorizing borrowing, and not about approving an override, which apparently was not needed for some reason (I forget why), there was nothing specific about how that borrowing would affect taxes, as there was on the override vide for the school building plan.
Any borrowing adds expense (debt payment, for 30 years normally) which has to get paid somehow, normally by increased taxes. There is one way it would not increase expenses, and that is if other debt is being retired (all paid off) at the same time. That does happen all the time, but no idea what the status of all that is (more below).
Somewhere in the mass of budget docs there will be a graph of forecasted future debt service which will show whether that expense is projected to go up or down — probably up — but possibly not if a lot of old debt is being retied (which I doubt).
It’s probably in here somewhere. Maybe somewhere someone gave a simple explanation of all this.
This is an example of something people would want to know but have to really pay attention to have a clue about, unless there is an easily findable simplified doc on it somewhere.
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Thanks, Rick, for your comments! I just updated this page about the “4 major capital projects” and included a link to a presentation from the former Town Finance Director about the financing plan for the projects, including the Jones Library project. I think some of your questions may be addressed in that presentation: https://theamherstcurrent.org/overview-of-the-four-major-capital-projects-and-the-financing-plan/
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