by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
It seems the one, two, three hurricane punch has taken its toll on at least one major project downtown.
The new Main Library, originally targeted for “substantial completion” by early January, isn’t expected to be ready until at least February.
Marcy Cook of the Better Jacksonville Plan said the constant stops and starts in anticipation of hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne as the main cause for the delay.
“It isn’t that the building itself sustained a lot of damage,” she said. “It’s just that typically when a storm approaches, we have to take down all of the scaffolding and wait until it passes before we can put it back up and move forward.
“Obviously, we didn’t have too many good days in September, but we are going full force now and we’ll do everything we can to make up some of the days we lost.”
Having the library open in time for the Super Bowl is no longer a consideration, Cook said.
“No, it won’t be. However, we have never specifically said the library would be open in time for the Super Bowl and people may have been confused by that,” she said. “We said it would be significantly complete and, if the weather permits, there’s still a good chance we’ll be able to do that. It’s a possibility.
“We’re still saying early next year.”
Under construction for over a year, Cook said the $95 million project did not falter nearly as much as it could have.
“Despite this setback, we do continue to make progress,” she said. “Most recently, we were able to remove some of the power cranes that were previously on site. We’ve also been able to close in more of the roof.”
Before September’s storms, the library had managed to avoid scheduling setbacks.