Grand Forks' Library Board has agreed to make the architectural team of Widseth Smith Nolting and PSA-Dewberry BCA to lead the community through the design and construction of a new library.
The team was earlier recommended from a field of four finalists by a board committee.
Board Chairwoman Susan Mickelson said the team will next provide the board with a contract that would include the fees it will charge the city. She said she doesn't have estimates of what those costs might be.
"I would think there would be ability to negotiate," she said. "They understand we have options here."
Fees, she said, are usually a percentage of the total project cost.
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The board earlier estimated it would $12.2 million to buy land and build a 63,000-square-foot library.
The fees would likely be broken into two parts: Pre-election and post-election.
Library officials expect to ask voters to approve in November a limited-duration sales tax dedicated to the library. If the referendum doesn't pass, they'll pay only for the work necessary to get to the election date.
Mickelson said the architects would do the minimum necessary for that.
That work is crucial because officials want voters to know where the library would be -- the first thing the architects would do would be to recommend a site from four the board had earlier approved. -- and, to a limited extent, what it would look like.
The board's requests for qualifications sent out to prospective architects said they'd be expected to hold workshops with the community to gather ideas and present preliminary designs.
Reach Tran at (701) 780-1248; (800) 477-6572, ext. 248; or send e-mail to ttran@gfherald.com .
