Plainsboro Township is moving closer to construction of its new public library in the Plainsboro Village Center.
Earlier this month, the library plan was found to be consistent with the township master plan by the township Planning Board, according to Township Administrator Robert Sheehan.##M:[more]##
Because the project is being developed by a governmental body, it does not require an official site plan approval, but state law requires that the plan be reviewed by the municipal planning board for consistency with the goals of the master plan.
With the planning board review behind them, the township is getting ready to move toward the next phase of the plan — financing.
“We’re in the latter stages of preparing the plans and bid documents,” says Sheehan. “We’re looking to go out bid in July.”
The township’s effort to raise private funds for the project — which has an estimated price tag of between $15 and $16 million — is going better than expected.
According to Sheehan, the town has already brought in $1.4 million and has now “raised the bar” for the fundraising goal to from $1.5 to $2 million. “We’re optimistic that we can achieve that.
Donations include $200,”000 from Bristol Myers-Squibb in return for naming rights to the community health education center planned for the library, and $100,”000 donations each from Robert Wood Johnson and Princeton University.
The fundraising campaign, “Leave a Legacy… Build a Library,” kicked off last summer and has also seen numerous donations of smaller amounts by private individuals in addition to the large donations.
The library, designed by Manhattan-based BKSK Architects and Library Director Jinny Baeckler, will be a three-story, 34,”000-square-foot building located in the heart of the Village Center.
The new library could be open as early as 2008, and would include a cafe, an art gallery, two roof terraces, a science center, an oversize elevator, and a third floor dedicated to children’s books and activities.
The structure will be brickface with white trim, to complement the rest of the buildings in the Village Center. But it will set itself apart from the Center’s throwback architecture with a glass entrance, front wall, and tower. The glass-front design allows for a suffusion of natural light, a feature expected to cut energy costs in the long run.
