“The mayor said, ’Under no condition are we going to stop on this project,’” said Joseph I. Mulligan III, deputy director of the city’s Capital Construction Division. “He said, ’We have to move forward on this.’ The mayor made a full commitment to moving forward on the project without hesitation, and if there’s an issue on reimbursement, we will wait the state out.”
The state board awarded more than $27.4 million to the eight grant recipients, with the largest sum, $6.3 million, going to West Springfield. Boston’s request for $7.3 million for the East Boston Branch is dead-last among the 15 on the wait list. Another six were turned down by the state and will have to resubmit their proposals.
Christine Schonhart, director of branch libraries for the Boston Public Library, said the setback didn’t come as a surprise because the board tends to prioritize funding to main libraries over branch libraries. She said the same thing had happened to the Mattapan branch library several years ago, and it eventually received state funding.
If construction begins on schedule in the spring of 2012, the new branch could open as early as fall of 2013, according to Jim McGaffigan, the city project manager who will oversee the work.
The plan for the new library is worlds away from both the staid, Classical Revival East Boston Branch on Meridian Street and the squat, brick Orient Heights Branch. The design is light and airy, with a glass wall facing Bremen Street Park and the downtown skyline and a roof made up of undulating strips that wouldn’t be out of place on a building designed by Frank Gehry.
Designed to bring the park into the indoor space, the plan features distinct areas for adults, young adults, and children over its 14,870 square feet, but the spaces are delineated by color selections, furniture styles, and roof alignments rather than walls.
