Girdwood’s new Library and Community Center scheduled to be completed by the end of the month

Ken Smith/Turnagain Times The new Girdwood Library and Community Center is nearing completion. Expected to open in April, the center will feature two buildings for a public meeting room and library. There will be two entrances to the building including (above) a pedestrian entrance on Egloff Drive with bike and ski racks. The main entrance on the north side will have a gravel parking lot with 10 to 12 parking spaces.

By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times

The new Library and Community Center in Girdwood is in the final phase of construction. At the end of March, the one-year project should be completed, a month later than originally planned.
The total cost for construction and land is just shy of $6 million. The building is located on Municipality land, and the city contributed $862,000 for the land and utilities. Money came from various sources including a state and federal capital grant of $2.5 million approved by the state legislature, $1 million from the Denali Commission, and $514,000 was acquired from the Rasmuson Foundation.
The Girdwood Library and Community Center Task Force also raised more than $100,000 and an additional $1 million was raised and paid for through a local tax levy approved by the Girdwood Board of Supervisors
Pinnacle construction oversaw construction of the center, and R.I.M. architects designed it. Construction began last May and it appears work will be completed by March 25.
The center is located next to the Fire Department and comprised of two buildings connected by an exterior plaza. The library will be in the west end building and the community room in the east end building.
“There will be some very intricate tile work,” said Shay Throop, Superintendent of Pinnacle Construction, “and there will be hand-crafted art in the lobby. Stone work on the outside is hand laid. River rocks out of Hope were used for the corner pilasters, the main structural elements that hold up the building.”
A metal roof was used, as well as post and beam style construction. Kitchenettes are in the meeting room for social gatherings, and another kitchenette was built for the employee lounge in the library. Otherwise, everything is pretty standard as a public use building, Throop said.
“There are a lot of windows on every wall, so there’s a lot of natural light,” he said, “and open ceilings.”
On the north side of the plaza there are two radius seating benches and four picnic tables, and on the south side (Egloff Drive) there are ski and bike racks.
“It will be an enjoyable place to congregate when the weather’s nice,” Throop said.
An extensive landscaping plan was designed for the exterior plaza with Spruce trees, Bleeding Heart Lilies, American Bergonias, a Crab Apple tree, and Dogwood. Landscaping is expected to be completed in June.
The main entrance to the center will be on the north side with a gravel parking lot able to accommodate 10 to 12 vehicles, but there is room for expansion, Throop said. He said it should be a well lighted parking lot with six street lights.
The library is spacious with much more room for books than the existing library at the Girdwood School, and there will be six data ports for computer hook-ups and internet access.
The meeting room will also be the new home for Girdwood Board of Supervisor meetings; a welcomed change from its present location at Glacier City Hall, a cramped old garage that’s been converted into a public meeting room, sorely lacking amenities that will be provided in the new building.