PORT TOWNSEND — The first phase of renovation scheduled for the Port Townsend Library, the Library Learning Center at the Charles Pink House, is now complete and will be celebrated today.
A ribbon-cutting is planned at 2 p.m. at the building adjacent to the main library at 1120 Lawrence St.
Until 3 p.m., the public will be invited to tour the newly renovated center, which will be used for library programs, events and staff and trustee offices.
“This is very exciting for us,” said library Director Theresa Percy. “It has always been part of our plan to provide a separate space for daytime programs.
“It also means that we can move on to the next phase, which is the seismic retrofit of the main building.”
The library had budgeted $174,000 for the Pink House renovation, but once final costs are known, the project probably will cost less than that, Percy said.
“It’s looking very good that it will be coming in under budget,” she said.
Renovation of the Pink House was funded through the library’s capital campaign, with no public money used, Percy said.
The city of Port Townsend administered the project, which was completed by Hoch Construction of Port Angeles.
The Pink House renovation is the first of three phases — which also will include the retrofit and the addition of a new wing — and is expected to cost about $9 million, which will come from a variety of federal, state and local sources, Percy said.
Percy said all three phases probably will be completed in 2014, a year later than originally expected.
In the Pink House, the first floor was renovated to include two conference rooms, a 420-square-foot space and a smaller 200-square-foot room.
The areas can be used together or separately as they have different entrances, Percy said.
The two meeting spaces already are in use by such library programs as job training and reading activities.
Other potential uses are author readings, tutoring, book groups, literary groups and homework help.
It also will be available on a limited basis to some community groups.
Goddard College’s Clemente Program and the Port Townsend Co-Lab — a shared facility that provides business infrastructure and a clean, well-lighted place to work — are using the facility now.
The house was built in 1868 and was purchased by Charles W. Pink in 1874.
The Pink family owned the house until 1981, when it was purchased by the city of Port Townsend.
Photos are on display of the house through the years to provide a historical context, Percy said.
The next phase of the renovation, the seismic retrofit of the main Carnegie Library, is scheduled to begin in April.
Library collections will be moved into the Mountain View Commons, 1925 Blaine St.
The area will function as the library for the six to eight months it will take to complete.
The cost of the retrofit will be subsidized by a $761,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency grant with $265,000 in city matching funds.
This amount includes the cost of relocating library inventory for the six months needed for the retrofit along with funds allocated for rental of the temporary space.
To fund the entire project, the private campaign is $2.5 million, and “we’re waiting to hear on some state funding and working on developing other local sources,” Percy said.
Revenue from a city levy lid lift approved by voters in 2008 to benefit the public library was earmarked for operations and could not be used for capital projects, Percy said.
For more information, visit the library’s website, www.ptpubliclibrary.org, or phone 360-385-3181.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.