New Silver Spring Library Moving Forward: Construction Meeting Today

Work on the Silver Spring Library could begin within the next few months, according to sources at Montgomery County. "We’re moving forward on a very tight schedule, and this is a real priority project for the county."  That’s Ernest Lunsford, division chief for Montgomery County’s Department of General Services, speaking about plans for the forthcoming Silver Spring library. The project—a roughly 63,000 square foot structure designed by the Lukmire Partnership to sit at the corner of Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue - has been inching along since 1999, when the county approved funding for it.

No longer. Design plans finally made it through a long community approval process, construction drawings have been created, and the site has been largely prepared for work to begin. On August 28, the county put the project up for bidding, and today, officials will be holding a “pre-bid” meeting for the eight contractors that have already completed a pre-qualification process.

The contractors are Clark Construction, Coakley & Williams Construction, Costello Construction, Donohoe Construction Company, Dustin Construction, Grunley Construction, Hess Construction, and Morgan-Keller Construction.

The bid opening date is scheduled for October 2, but Lunsford says there’s a chance that date will be pushed back by a week or so if substantial new information arises as a result of today’s meeting. Lunsford and his colleague, Susanne Churchill, the senior architect project manager, swear they will award a contract soon after that. They’ll choose the lowest bidder and issue a “notice to proceed,” allowing work to begin around November.

It’s a bit of a tricky project, explains Churchill, which could cause obstacles. Being a county endeavor, the development includes a prevailing wage clause as well as a “minority, female, and disabled person” subcontracting requirement. It’s complicated structurally, too: the Purple Line train will eventually run through a portion of the building, and an atrium includes special smoke exhaust requirements.

Design plans haven’t changed much in the past few months. A five-story building clad in cast stone that includes a glass curtain wall cantilevering over the Purple Line’s path, this new library will be almost four times bigger than the current one, which is the oldest library in Montgomery County’s system. Pyramid Atlantic art center will operate out of the first two floors, and the library—with expanded meeting spaces, a computer lab, and a larger children’s section—will take up the rest. 

The project should be completed by fall of 2014.

Silver Spring, Maryland, real estate development news 

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Silver Spring Library Taking Construction Baby Steps

The new Silver Spring Library, nearly 13 years in the making, is finally nearing construction as crews now work to relocate "dry utilities."

View from Fenton Street. Source: Pre-proposal Slide Show

Don Scheuerman, section chief for project management at the county's Division of Building Design and Construction, said building permit applications were submitted, and staff is reviewing interested contractors, a list he expects to publish in about 30 days.

"We’ll do an invitation to bid with those contractors," Scheuerman said. "Once we get that in, hopefully we’re off to the races."

Scheuerman could not comment on the number of contractors who expressed interest, but the sign-in sheet from a February pre-submission meeting includes representatives from 23 different companies.

A slide show from that meeting shows another new design and layout from project architects Lukmire Partnership.

View from intersection of Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue.
Source: Pre-proposal Slide Show

The library now is planned as a 5-story, cast- stone building at Fenton Street and Wayne Avenue. A pavilion with a glass facade facing Fenton connected to the main building at the top of the second floor creates a covered path for the future Purple Line to pass through.

The library will occupy the top three stories. Pyramid Atlantic will use the first two floors and the basement.

Initial designs released in 2009 showed a taller building with County offices on the sixth floor and library meeting space on the seventh floor.

The County has been working on the new library since at least 1999 when it approved funding. When completed, the new library will replace the existing Silver Spring Library -- the County's oldest community library.

View along Wayne Avenue. Source: Pre-proposal Slide Show

The project officially broke ground in August 2010, but only site preparation was begun. Ground work and utility relocation underway now aim to keep the project moving forward and avoid future delays.

"By doing that now, that will hopefully allow construction to proceed more rapidly," said Susanne Churchill, senior architect project manager for the library.

She said she hopes to start construction this fall. Total build-out should take about two years for a late 2014 opening.

Silver Spring, Maryland, real estate development news

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Rosslyn's Artisphere Opens

While the "opening of the Artisphere" might sound science fictional, Rosslynites know by now that it puts Rosslyn on the map of arts destinations. The 53,000-square-foot "showcase for the arts," opening October 10th, will include an exhibition gallery, a Black Box theater for the Washington Shakespeare Company, ballroom, Wi-Fi cafe, four performance venues, and three art galeries, all converted from the building the once housed the Newseum.

Arlington chose The Lukmire Partnership and Clark Construction to renovate the interior, while keeping most of the exterior, in a design that is intended to achieve LEED certification for interior space, designation pending. Arlington officials set the October 10th date more than a year ago, and managed to stick the landing with regular events beginning immediately after the official pomp. "Artisphere" was the winning entry in a public contest that included "Planet 9," "Artopolis," "the Orb," "the Artseum," and DCMud's own rejected entries of "Rossdome" and "SphARTlington." Humph.

Officials promise a veritably transcendental arts forum with non-stop programming that will redefine art in the community. "Its an entirely unique model in the region and country in terms of diversity and amount of programming. I do think we are creating a new model for regional appeal and global programming," said Norma Kaplan, Division Chief for Arlington Cultural Affairs, which operates the Artisphere. "An important component is bringing in artists from around the world that will open up the door to new kinds of work and new connections." Kaplan promises "20 to 25 events" per week. Jim Byers, Marketing Director for Arlington Cultural Affairs, adds that between the impromptu, regular, and occasional big name performances, the building will be a consistent place of inspiration. "The usual experience is a big name that may draw you to a cultural center sporadically. While some of the programs will indeed be big names, our idea is to constantly engage the public and have them hang out there regularly at the wi-fi cafe or go to the art store, a much more holistic experience than seeing a few big stars per year."

The building is owned by Monday Properties with a 20-year lease to Arlington. Monday is also the owner of the land at nearby 1812 N. Moore Street in Rosslyn, where it recently announced it would begin construction on what will be Rosslyn's tallest building when complete.

Arlington Virginia real estate development news

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