PBC Board of Commissioners Names Contractor To Build New Beverly Branch Library

The Public Building Commission of Chicago Wednesday selected a contractor to build the new Beverly Branch Library while also honoring a past member of the Board of Commissioners.

The PBC’s Board of Commissioners voted to award a contract in the amount of $6.8 million to Blinderman Construction for the construction of the new Beverly Branch Library, to be located at 1962 W. 95th Street. Construction of the new library is expected to begin this spring, with completion tentatively scheduled for spring of 2009.

Blinderman’s bid, the lowest of seven responsive bids for the project, included a commitment of 24 percent for MBE participation and 4 percent for WBE participation.

The new branch library will be a 16,000-square-foot facility build on a prototype design, featuring not only a variety of books and periodicals, but also educational and entertainment DVDs, public access computers for online research, a dividable multipurpose room and room for the library’s district office.

In other actions Wednesday, the Board of Commissioners passed a resolution honoring Eugene Sawyer for his service to the Public Building Commission. Sawyer was a member of the Board of Commissioners when he served as the Mayor of the City of Chicago between 1987 and 1989.

The Board also approved six firms to provide architect-of-record services for the design of six new school projects. Schroeder Murchie Niemiec Gazda-Auskalnis Architects, Ltd. was selected as the as the Architect of Record for the new Avondale Irving Park Area Elementary School, to be located near Milwaukee and Springfield Avenues. Muller-Muller Ltd. was picked as the Architect of Record for the new Boone Clinton Area Elementary School, to be located at 6700 North Whipple Street. STR Partners, LLC was named as the Architect of Record for the new Brighton Park I Elementary School to be located at 38th Street and South St. Louis.

Architrave was chosen as the Architect of Record for the new Brighton Park II Area Elementary School, to be located at 48th and South Rockwell streets. Legat Architects was named as the Architect of Record for the new Lee Pasteur Hurley Area Elementary School, to be located at 6700 South Keating Avenue. InterActive Design, Inc. was cast as the Architect of Record for the new Powell Replacement Elementary School, to be located at 75th Street and South Shore Drive.

The Board also okayed the awarding of Job Ordering Contract (JOC) service agreements to F.H. Paschen Nielsen LLC, Rossi Contractors, Inc. and McDonough Demolition, Inc. Under the agreements, the companies will perform campus park improvements and site preparations on various projects.

The Board of Commissioners also considered a request from the Chicago Park District to undertake the construction of two new fieldhouses, one of them to be at Taylor-Lauridsen (Boyce) Park, located at 647 West Root Street, and the other to be at Jesse Owens Park, located at 2032 East 88th Street.

The PBC manages government-funded construction and renovation projects for the City of Chicago and Cook County. Mayor Richard M. Daley serves as the PBC’s chairman.