Metro Council to take up downtown library design contract Wednesday

At its regular meeting Wednesday, the Metro Council will once again take up the yearlong saga that’s been the awarding of a design contract for the new downtown library. A city-parish committee on May 19, 2011, chose a joint venture by WHLC Architecture of Baton Rouge and Boston-based Schwartz/Silver Architects to design the library—for which the Metro Council had previously approved a $19 million allocation—but the deal has yet to be inked. In the meantime, local architect Trey Trahan has alleged the selection process was corrupted and threatened to file suit if the process was not restarted. The city-parish has nonetheless moved forward, with its capital improvements committee last week voting to recommend that the Metro Council award the contract to the WHLC-Schwartz/Silver venture. According to the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting, the contract is not to exceed $1,516,847. Also on the agenda is a contract with Looney Ricks Kiss Architects for limited design services on the library planned in the Rouzan development off Perkins Road. That contract is not to exceed $49,800. The Metro Council convenes at 4 p.m. at City Hall, 222 St. Louis St. You can see the complete agenda here.