Rives Construction will serve as construction manager advisor
From STAFF REPORTS
The City of Albertville is about two months away from seeing dirt move in the project to construct a new Albertville Public Library.
What follows will be an estimated 12-to-14-month construction project, with cost of $14 million. The Albertville City Council approved Rives Construction as construction manager advisor for the project at its Aug. 18 meeting.
In its role as construction manager advisor, Mike Shows with Chambless King Architects said , instead operating as traditional general contractor model, where bids go out to multiple “GCs,” Rives Construction will break the project is into smaller “prime subcontractor” agreements.
“You’re basically bidding the project but just in a slightly different way,” Shows explained. “The goal there is to create a level of consistency, with the project management, with management of the construction site, of the people on site for special projects. There’s very little margin for error in a project like this.
“The city council has charged us with doing a ‘Legacy’ project – in a library that is beautiful, that is worth everyone’s energy and time and it will be part of their legacy. It is serving as a gateway to the City of Albertville. It’s such a special project; it’s just covered with all sorts of special qualities. You want to set that up for success in construction.
Shows said part of his job, being trusted by the city in construction and design of the project, is advising them in how they can trust a partner in construction.
The actions taken by the council puts Rives in the driver’s seat as construction manager advisor and they will get to work looking at Chambless King’s documents, proofing and verifying — validating cost estimates,” Shows said.
“They’re going to take my documents that the city has paid for and carve them up into several different packages and they’re going to start advertising and prequalifying subcontractors,” he said.
“They’re going to put this project out to bid and we’re going to start building,” Shows said.
It will be an eight-to-10-week process, he said, before the people of Albertville will see dirt starting to move at the site. That site will be the one where the old library, heavily damaged in a fire in May 2025, now sits shuttered. Demolition of what’s left of the library will be part of the $14 million project, Shows said.
The city and the architecture firm sought out the public’s input on what the library project should entail. Shows said they were a great part of the project.
“You realize how valuable a library is. It’s the life-blood of my city, it’s where my wife and I take our kids go and spend time,” he said. “And on top of that, that process taught us how libraries have changed so much, from just a house of books to this live, civic environment of access to technology, access to community, access to basic services, and access to books.
“If you are a growing city, with a vision, you are building a nice library. You’re putting it in an important place to serve the city well. That’s what’s so exiting about the leadership here. They’ve decided to do that and we’re well on our way to doing it,” Shows said.
In other action at the council meeting, Joseph Chestnut was appointed to the Albertville Airport Board, and city leaders approved four resolutions for expenses for abatement and gave authority to the city clerk to record a lien on properties at 127, Sand Street, 716 Baltimore Avenue, 1430 Portwood Drive, and 206 Thomas Street.
The council set a public hearing Oct. 6 to hear a request from Aguliar de Leon Edain Ulizar and Mejia Jose Sandra Cristina to zone property at 685 Cochran Avenue to R-1, pending annexation.
Ordinances were introduced to zone the property as requested pending annexation and to annex the property. The actions would be voted on after the public hearing.
Artist rendering of the new library project. Provided by the architect on the project, Chambless King Architects.
