Pricey Bids Push Back Construction on New Library

The is postponing groundbreaking on a brand-new Crest Hill branch after bids for the project came in higher than anticipated, Library Director Scott Pointon said.

The district originally planned to host a groundbreaking ceremony at the , located at Weber and Caton Farm roads just north of Menard’s, on Nov. 11. The new 22,000-square-foot branch was to be completed by November or December 2012.

That timetable had changed, however, after the library district received several bids that exceeded its budget.

“The apparent low base bid was submitted by Nicholas and Associates, in the amount of $6,049,000,” Pointon said via email. The district plans to rebid the project in early 2012, hoping to cut costs by avoiding winter construction conditions and bring the bids down to the budgeted $5.7 to $5.8 million, Pointon said.

“When it came in at just over $6 million we knew it was time to pull back and regroup, and go after it again in early 2012,” he said of the bids received earlier this month.

The delay means the new Crest Hill branch’s grand opening will be pushed back until spring 2013, Pointon said. The existing branch, located at 1298 Theodore St., will remain open until the new facility is completed, Pointon said, adding the new construction timeline for Crest Hill will not affect the district’s other projects.

at the Romeoville site, 201 Normatown Road, and slated to be completed by April 2012. The construction will allow the library to occupy the entire 48,000-square-foot building, including the previously unoccupied lower level.

The Romeoville facility will remain open during construction, with the exception of a roughly two-week period, during which time staff will move operations into the newly completed first floor as renovations get under way upstairs. The library will also close briefly once the second floor is completed, according to Pointon, as operations move back upstairs.

The library district’s final project, an expansion at the Lockport branch, 121 E. 8th St., is scheduled to begin in the spring. During construction, the branch will to the nearby Gaylord Building, 200 W. Eighth St.

All three projects are funded by a $23 million building bond referendum approved by voters in February 2010.