New Hanover County approves funding to move forward with new library branch

New Hanover County approved a $9.3 million contract to move forward with the construction of the county's newest library branch.

The Northchase library branch will serve multiple unincorporated communities, including Murrayville, Ogden, Porters Neck and Castle Hayne.

The construction contract was awarded to Monteith Construction Corporation at the May 20 regular meeting for the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners.

The cost

The total project budget budget is $13 million. In addition to the construction contract, there was site work construction previously approved and underway that totaled approximately $625,000. The design also totaled approximately $1.2 million, according to county facilities management.

The cost for custodial services, maintenance services and all utilities is estimated to be $75,000 annually.

The budget also includes a 1% construction cost or approximately $95,000 for the public art capital projects policy, according to David King, senior facilities project coordinator for the county.

An internal committee will be meeting in the coming weeks to start the process for artwork, according to facilities management.

The details

Little Diversified Architecture and Design designed the building, which will be 19,941 square feet and will have a teen multimedia social room, a gaming area, a children's story time pavilion in addition to the library's 35,000 new books.

The branch will be located on nearly three acres of land at 4400 Northchase Parkway NE., which the county has owned since 1996, according to property records.

Approximately 12 full-time employees will be needed for the branch, which will operate seven days a week. A full year of salaries and benefits is around $800,000, but library staff said that it will depend on the library's opening date and how much the library will need the first fiscal year.

The opening day collection will cost approximately $1 million, which will include 35,000 books. The library system also has an overall collections budget and the anticipated budget for Northchase will be about $170,000.

The supply budget for Northchase will be an estimated $15,000, which library staff said is consistent with other branches and includes supplies needed for library programs.

The opening

The branch is expected to open in late 2025, according to county communications and outreach coordinator Alex Riley.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: New Hanover County approves funding to move forward with new library branch