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Hampstead Branch Library project on schedule; $500,000 donation announced and permits underway
Summary
Architects and the library director updated commissioners June 2 on the Hampstead Branch Library, saying permitting is underway, cost estimates remain near the budgeted amount and community fundraising has added $500,000 from the Topsail Township Friends of the Library toward a roughly $15.3 million project.
Pender County library leadership and the project team told the county board on June 2 that designs for the proposed Hampstead Branch Library are largely complete, permitting is in active review and the project remains within the current budget estimate.
Alan Phillips Bell, director of Pender County Library, and architects from Sawyer Sherwood and Associates presented updated renderings, a construction schedule and a permitting plan. Bell thanked the Topsail Township Friends of the Library for a $500,000 donation, part of about $1.6 million the project team said has been raised from community donors.
John Sawyer and partner Scott Spike described the design as a roughly 20,000-square-foot, predominantly masonry and metal building with daylighting strategies for reading areas, an expanded children’s area, a larger multipurpose meeting room, and outdoor reading and activity space. The design uses mass timber elements inside and a perforated canopy intended to cast a turtle motif in light on the exterior brickwork.
The project team said their schedule aims for permit approvals through the summer, bidding in October and construction starting late in the year with a projected completion in early 2027. Permitting bodies on the list include Pender County development review, Pluris and Pender County utilities, NCDEQ and NCDOT for an encroachment agreement. Architects said site work permitting and utility coordination have been the most time-consuming items so far.
Budget: the project team said the most recent estimate put building construction costs at about $12.8 million and the total project estimate (including furnishings and site work) at approximately $15.3 million. Architects said they have retained a cost cushion and that the project remains “within budget.”
Public input: designers said they completed seven public input sessions and an on-site visual survey early in the design process; the most frequent public requests were for larger meeting spaces, an expanded children’s area and outdoor space, which the team said are incorporated in the design. The design team noted a choice to use shelving heights that are easier for patrons to reach even though that reduces total volume; planned capacity is about 50,000 items, similar to the current branch, but with improved accessibility.
What’s next: the team will continue construction-document work, expect permitting decisions over the summer, and prepare to advertise the project for competitive bids in the fall. The project team asked the board to note that specialized construction elements (mass timber, acoustic treatment for highway noise, 25-foot ceiling requirements for apparatus lifts referenced for the fleet-garage work) have informed cost estimates and schedule planning.
Ending: Commissioners asked about public input, technical review, and whether national library organizations had been consulted; the architect and library director said they worked with a library consulting firm called Rethinking Libraries and with the State Library of North Carolina and had used library-director peer networks for technical guidance.
