New Wasilla Library building taking shape

WASILLA — The new Wasilla Public Library continues to take shape, as has the city’s funding of the project, with city officials hoping to cut the ribbon on the new building in September.

According to Wasilla public works director Archie Giddings, the city has reached its $15 million threshold for funding the project, due in part to a 2013 voter-approved 1-percent hike in the city sales tax put in place for library construction that was matched with other funding sources.

Since the funding goal was reached, the sales tax increase reached a sunset date at the end of the year, meaning the city’s rate returned to 2 percent on Jan. 1. Wasilla voters rejected a proposed stay in the 3-percent rate in the October 2015 election.

Other funding came from various entities, among them the Friends of the Wasilla Library, the State of Alaska, the Rasmuson Foundation, and the Foraker Group. The Mat-Su Borough donated the four-acre parcel through a transfer to the City of Wasilla.

“The funding is there,” Giddings said Tuesday. “Through 2015 the city has collected $12.2 million through the sales tax funding and roughly $2.7 million from other sources.”

The coming weeks should mark a visible change for the 24,000-square-foot building on the corner of Crusey Street and Swanson Avenue, with its unique wall panels expected to be installed this month. The current library building is around 8,200 square feet.

Giddings said the walls were a “unitized curtain system” built off-site.

“It is a super-insulated wall system with a colored concrete surface that never has to be painted,” Giddings said.

Cornerstone General Contractors, the lead on the project, expects to be finished in June or July, Giddings said. ECI/Hyer Inc. designed the facility.

“We are on budget and on schedule,” Giddings said. “And happy with how things are coming along. The design (firm) and contractor are a good team.”

Ground was broken for the project in March 2015.

The new facility will triple the available space for books, enhance the technology available for library users and boost parking to approximately 80 spaces. A paved trail will connect Wasilla Middle School, just up the hill from the site.

Giddings said once the contractor is finished, he expects the moving process to take around three weeks, with an opening planned for September.

“Once the contractor finishes with their commissioning process in getting everything up and running, we will need some time to get everything moved and get the staff in and accustomed to the new system,” Giddings said.

After years of expansion discussion, the project gained steam after a 2006 needs assessment found library space was inadequate to meet the city’s expanding population. Initially, the city sought to use the Meta Rose building on Yenlo Street as a replacement, but eventually abandoned the plan due to cost concerns in converting the building for library use as well as issues with parking and future growth at the location.

According to the city, the Wasilla Library has been in existence since 1938, when the Wasilla Library Association opened the facility with 91 books. It has been at its current location on Main Street since 1978, and has grown to see more than 80,000 annual visitors.

Contact reporter Steven Merritt at 352-2269 or steven.merritt@frontiersman.com