With the Metro Council on Wednesday approving a $1.5 million design contract for a new downtown library by a 7-4 vote, a joint venture by Baton Rouge-based WHLC Architecture and Schwartz/Silver Architects of Boston can finally begin the process of taking the long-stalled project from vision to fruition.
Though it’s not clear exactly how long the design process will take, Library Board of Control Co-director Mary Stein says the Main Library on Goodwood Boulevard—currently under construction with a budget of $44 million—took a year to design.
Unlike the Main Library, the downtown facility is expected to shut down during construction, according to Jim Frey, an architect with East Baton Rouge Department of Public Works.
The Metro Council has previously allocated $19 million for the new downtown library at the Baton Rouge River Center. How that $19 million will be spent on the project—which has been hotly debated by the council and community at large for years now—is expected to elicit continued debate as the design process gets under way.
During the early stages of selecting an architect last year, controversy erupted when Baton Rouge architect and early frontrunner Trey Trahan accused a committee that eventually selected the WHLC-Schwartz/Silver venture of compromising the process by circulating materials damaging to Trahan among its members prior to the final vote.
Trahan’s attorney, Grey Sexton, threatened to sue over the ordeal but has yet to file suit. Sexton today says he has not spoken with Trahan since Wednesday’s Metro Council meeting, and that they “are still evaluating reasonable options, but no decision has been made as to what action would be in the best interest of both the public and the library board.”
The downtown library is envisioned as a high-tech facility that may even include a rooftop restaurant.
“They might put wings on the building so it can fly, who knows?” says Councilman Rodney “Smokie” Bourgeois, who voted against approving the architect contract and has been opposed to building the new facility.
Editor’s note: This story has been changed since its original publication.
