Branch Update May

MAY 2023 UPDATE

Architectural Firm Selection

The City’s Public Facilities Department (PFD) received Statements of Qualifications from 14 architectural firms seeking to be chosen to redesign the South End Branch Library. A list of the firms that responded is reproduced to the right of this text. A copy of the request can be seen here:

https://www.boston.gov/bid-listings/project-7289 (note the $20 million construction estimate).

A public meeting to review the 14 candidates was held in April. Present at the meeting were PDF Project Manager and personnel Rohn MacNulty, Alistair Lucks, and Carleton Jones, BPL Project Manager Alison Ford, and FOSEL’s Yvette Jarreau, as well as several representatives from the community and architectural firms.

The Selection Committee reviewed and ranked the firms based on several criteria including: community engagement, Boston location, experience with similar projects, the Chapter 149 development process, and urban projects, LEED certification, previous recent projects with PFD, and overall appropriateness for this project.  Based on these rankings, PFD Contracts Administrator, Laura Junior, produced a final, short list of candidates:

  1. Utile, Inc

  2. Oudens Ello Architects LLC

  3. Annum Architects, Inc

  4. Schwartz/Silver Architects, Inc.

On the whole, the review committee found the quality of the candidates to be very high and the PDF has past experience with many of them, so the committee has decided not to draw out the process by conducting interviews, which could take another month. 

Now that the top firm is identified, MacNulty will negotiate a fee and hopes to bring the selection before the Public Facilities Commission at their next meeting on June 14.   You can watch this virtual meeting on Boston City TV at Xfinity channel 24, RCN channel 13, Fios channel 962, and livestreaming on the Boston City TV website. 

After approval by the Commission, a contract will be drawn up, a process which ordinarily takes around two months.  Accordingly, we hope by late August, we will have top-notch, experienced architectural firm ready to get to work! 

Branch Librarian Search/Staffing

The new South End Branch librarian will begin on May 25th and will be available initially by email and phone. She will work on plans for additional interim services. 

Library Services

South End Settlements (USES) CEO, Jerrell Cox, a great believer in the importance of libraries to their communities, has generously offered to potentially allow use of USES space for some of the Library’s interim services. BPL President David Leonard and some of his staff have visited the available space to gauge its suitability. The location would not house books or other library collections, but could serve as the base for programs such as Story Time, Book Clubs, workforce development, etc., and book drop-off. Arrangements for this are ongoing.

Summer Concerts

FOSEL has received approval from the Parks & Recreation Department for four concerts in Library Park this summer. Attendees will need to bring their own chairs as the Library will likely not have furniture at that point.