Sandpoint Library bid awarded to Dardan Enterprises
An architect’s rendering shows the planned two-story, 4,456-square-foot expansion of the Sandpoint Library, featuring new meeting spaces, study rooms and an expanded Lifelong Learning Center on the building’s northwestern corner.
Illustration courtesy EAST BONNER COUNTY LIBRARY DISTRICT
SANDPOINT — Dardan Enterprises was selected Friday to build the newest phase of the Sandpoint Library.
The East Bonner County Library District Board awarded the bid to the Post Falls-based contractor, which has 10 days to accept the award. Dardan Enterprises was the lowest bidder at $2,272,000, EBCLD Director Vanessa Velez said Friday.
The board approved the 4,456-square-foot addition on the library's northwestern corner in late January.
The first floor of the two-story addition — the second expansion of the Sandpoint Library since it opened in 2000 — was originally part of the 2017 expansion but was dropped to trim costs.
EBCLD officials previously said the library's architect proposed adding another story as a more cost-effective way to maximize the library's space while meeting the goals of the expansion.
The first floor of the expansion will consist of a large meeting room and smaller “café”-style meeting spaces, potentially including books and other items for sale from the Friends of the Library. The second floor will expand the Lifelong Learning Center and provide additional private study and tutoring rooms, along with a multimedia room, a small-group study space and staff offices.
The district's 2017 expansion spruced up the children's area, added a teen lounge and makerspace, and included additional tutoring rooms and larger community meeting rooms and study areas. It also allowed for a virtual reality room and expanded the young adult and large-print book collection space.
Although library officials anticipate minimal disruption to district patrons during construction, a project "of this scale will always be noticeable," Velez said previously. The library director said district officials and staff are committed to reducing disturbances and inconveniences as much as possible and to sharing project updates with the community.
In accordance with Idaho Code, project construction is not being funded by levied tax dollars. Instead, Velez said funding for the expansion is derived primarily from donations and partially from sales tax revenue received from Bonner County.
The expansion project is the library district's second, with the 2017 project adding a two-story addition to the library's southeastern end and a one-story addition to the building's northwestern end. In total, the expansion added roughly 7,900 square feet to the original library, built in 2000, following a move from the historic downtown core building, which now houses MickDuff's Brewing Company.
Dardan Enterprises previously completed the 2020 remodel of the Priest River Library, which added a large community room, a new children's area and several small study rooms.