The current building is 2800 square feet – 1400 for the Library, and 1400 for the Town Hall.  We propose a new building of roughly 5500 square feet, with 1000 square feet for Town offices, 4000 for the Library, and 500 for a meeting room. 

For reference, this is slightly smaller than the current library in Grantsville.

We anticipate the cost will be about $300/square foot.  This works out to $1,650,000 for the raw construction costs.  Additionally, architect fees, furniture, equipment and “soft costs” will need to be considered, potentially bringing it up to around $3.4 million, based on one cost analysis.

This cost will depend on many things:  how big the building ends up being, what kind of construction style we decide upon, what sort of amenities/technology are included, any potential unforeseen problems with the lot, in-kind donations of time, expertise and materials, etc.  We will work to bring costs down in whatever way possible.

We will pursue a capital grant through the state of Maryland that can potentially provide up to 50% of the construction costs for the Library area.  The grant has a matching requirement, though, and we will work to raise money locally.

We will investigate the prospects of other grant opportunities, private donations, fundraising projects, County support, and if necessary a bond issue.

Additionally, the grant will not cover the town offices located in the building, so the costs for that (about $510,000) will have to be raised separately.

We also want to thank the Friendsville Quilters for their hard work raising funds for this project over the years!

We propose to demolish the existing building and put the new one up on the current site.  The floodplain in Friendsville unfortunately limits our options for alternative locations.

We will use a temporary facility in town while construction takes place. Our temporary location will be at the Friendsville Senior Center, 947 Community Drive, Friendsville, MD 21531.

The process takes time, especially when grant cycles, planning phases and the bidding process all have to be considered.  We anticipate a five-year timeline right now.

The proposed building will have the following features:

• Town Hall
• Meeting Room
• Children’s Area with interactive elements
• Reading Porch
• Co-Working Space
• Art Display Area
• Teen Area
• Reading Lounge
• Study Rooms
• Public Computer Area
• Lots of natural light
• Charging points throughout area
• Best possible Internet
• Modular furniture and shelving to create a reconfigurable area

This will be Friendsville’s building, and the project depends on Friendsville’s support.  Let’s make something the town can be proud of!

You can donate quickly and easily to this project by selecting our button here:  Donate to the Friendsville Library Project with PayPal!

Alternatively, you can send a check made out to "Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County" to 6 N Second St., Oakland, MD 21550.  Be sure to write "Friendsville" on the memo line!

Feel free to Email Thomas!