Project Timeline

New Building Project Milestones

Construction has begun!
200 NE Beaverbrooke Blvd. in Grimes.  

06/28/2022 – 9AM Groundbreaking Ceremony will be held.

02/22/2022 – City Council votes to officially approve grant award agreement from Enhance Iowa Board for $400,000 Community Attraction and Tourism Grant.

12/14/2021 – City Council votes to approve and award new library construction bids.

10/26/2021 – City Council votes to approve the new cost estimate  and bid the new library building project.

9/14/2021 – City Council votes to approve Weitz as Construction Manager at Risk.

4/27/2021 – City Council votes to approve the amended contract with Invision Architecture.

4/21/2021 – GPL hosts a fundraising kickoff event.

4/13/2021 – City Council approves schematic designs for new library building project.

3/23/2021 – City Council decides to fund and approves 7 million in support of the new library building project.

2/09/2021 – All of the Grimes Councilmembers supported allocating another 7 million dollars towards the library project.

Out of the possible $8 million dollars of L.O.S.S.T. funds that have been allocated towards City projects.  $4 million of those L.O.S.S.T. funds will be allocated towards the Library project.  An additional $3 million dollars will be taken out of the general operating fund to make a total of $7 million dollars.

The Council strongly recommended the Library begin the build process later this fall.  On July 1, 2021, the City staff will begin making the appropriate steps to borrow against the incoming L.O.S.S.T. funds.  Since all funds need to be accounted for by July 1, 2021 in order to begin the borrowing and build process,  the stakeholders of Grimes and the Grimes Library Board need to value engineer the building to come in at $8.1 million dollars unless more funds are donated towards before July 1.

11/2020 – Grimes City Council will be meeting in November and December of 2020 to determine project funding.

03/2020  COVID-19 Outbreak.  CIP and project has been put on hold.  Grant funds have been diverted to food banks, shelters, and other organizations.

11/2019 to 02/2020 – Library staff, board, Invision, and Christensen Development work together to value design the library building to 10.5 million dollars.

10/22/2019 – City Council voted to sign a contract with the architect firm INVISION for the new library.
– City Council allocates $1 million towards library project to cover architect fees, owner’s rep. fees, and other library project costs.

10/8/2019 – Grimes City Council approved the new library project with a signed resolution.  The library was not the only city item on the L.O.S.S.T. ballot.  In wanting to be good stewards of the monies and to help the monies be utilized in other ways, the library board and staff will also seek grants and private donations.

8/27/2019 – During the City’s strategic planning process, a new library building was made a top priority.

8/06/2019 – L.O.S.S.T. passes!  This allowed the Library project to become a reality.

Spring of 2019 – Library Director, staff, and board began investigating other building options and other architect firms to deliver a building that would fit in Grimes’s budget.

– City of Grimes purchases the southwest corner plot located at the intersection of Beaverbrook Blvd and James St for $750,000.

1/2019 – Previous architect firm delivered a cost estimate and renderings of a new 21 million dollar library.

2/27/2018  – The Grimes Public Library Board hires the firm Lawson Planning to conduct a space needs assessment on the library.  This study was done to help the City of Grimes vision how large of a library is needed to serve the Grimes community over the next 30 years.  The study concluded that a building between 50,000 square feet to 60,000 square feet was needed.  Grimes is a fast growing community.  To build a library of that magnitude would be a large financial burden and would not allow any other projects the City needs to be completed.  Yearly operating costs for a building of this size would prove to be too overwhelming for the City’s general fund.  Library staff recommended to reduce the size to 35,000 square feet with the opportunity to build on at a later date.

Other Documents Used to Determine Grimes Public Library Space Needs

Grimes Space Needs 2010 as accepted March 16 2010

Grimes Building Program as Revised by the Board May 24 2018