UPDATED: Sneak Peak Into Christa McAuliffe Library Under Construction

Many of the Framingham Library Trustees toured the Christa McAuliffe branch library under construction on Water Street for the first time Tuesday Morning.

Trustees were amazed by the progress and the scope of the project.

“It is impressive,” said Trustee Elizabeth Roy. The architectural drawings didn’t do it justice, she added.

Trustee Sam Klaidman, who conducted one of the tours, has been on the site often since construction began.

He said it is important the public knows the $8.6 million “project is on budget and on time.”

Construction is scheduled to be completed in early spring of 2016.

Once construction is completed by general contractor Lupachino/Salvatore, Klaidman said the town will need to obtain a certificate of occupancy.

Then, the process of moving everything from the old building in Saxonville to 746 Water Street will commence.

The new library will open sometime in 2016. he said.

The one-story, L-shaped library will be about triple the size of the current McAuliffe Library branch.

The new Nobscot library branch will be about 17,000 square feet and have parking for 55 vehicles.

“There will be lots of parking,” said Library Director Mark Contois, who conducted the other tour yesterday.

Construction crews have completed the frame of the build and poured the concrete floor.

Klaidman said there is 1,000 tons of steel in the project. Earlier this year, residents were invited to sign one of the steel beams to be included in the frame.

The branch library has a futuristic design, to reflect whom the library will be named after, the late first teacher in space and Framingham native Christa Corrigan McAuliffe.

It is an impressive structure standing inside the frame and even from across the street in the Hemenway Elementary School parking lot.

Throughout the tour, Klaidman pointed out sections of the new library. There will be a large children’s room, with an arts and crafts area. There is a young adult section in east wing of the library. It will look out onto water street and have a glass door entranceway.

“They will have their own space,” said Klaidman.

The front entrance way will have self-check out for books reserved, explained Klaidman.

There is also a community meeting room in the front on the west end of the library.

What is now known as the McAuliffe Library branch opened in Saxonville in opened in 1963, and was later renamed in honor of the astronaut after she died in the 1986 Challenger disaster.

Building a new McAuliffe Library branch has been years in the making.

In October 2012, the Framingham Library Foundation and the Framingham Library Trustees were awarded a $4.186 million grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners towards the estimated total construction cost is $8.6 million.

In May 2013, a Special Town Meeting voted 149-1 to build the new Christa McAuliffe branch library. Taxpayers share of the project is about $3.8 million, which will be funded over a 20-year capital bond.

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