By Blake Herzog
Prescott Valley is in the process of removing the entire exterior of its high-visibility library after reaching a financial settlement with the original architect and contractor, replacing its metal and plastic paneling with a stucco coating.
“It’ll be very much different from what’s there today,” said Bill Osborne, capital projects manager for the Town of Prescott Valley, adding basically everything besides the windows are being redone, a $3.5 million project.
The 55,000 square-foot building at 7401 E. Skoog Blvd. opened in 2009 and also houses the Town’s council chambers, an auditorium and classroom and office space used by Northern Arizona University.
Osborne said chronic leaks from the roof and walls began to pop up soon afterward, hitting the chambers especially hard but affecting every part of the structure. The Town replaced the roof earlier, and part of the total $5 million budget for the library renovations reimburses that expense.
The building’s design took inspiration from nearby Glassford Hill’s volcanic past with the council chambers situated inside the “cone,” and Phoenix-based Richard Kennedy Architects won several awards for it.
As far as the construction went, “It was an unfortunate situation of several things coming together,” Osborne said, with the metallic materials chosen for the exterior not suited to the local climate and some of the plastic panels installed incorrectly.
Plus, the color of many of the panels just didn’t work in the long term, Osborne said: “We won’t have that heavy black, I think that was part of the issue. We have way too much sunshine for black, it just fades out.”
Town officials and contractors agreed stucco would be a more suitable siding for the library based on how well it does for other buildings in the area. The “cone” part will be painted a light blue and the bottom portion will be decked in “gold-flecked” paint, Osborne said.
Contractor Danson Construction LLC began the work in August. As of press time the plastic and polycarbonate panels will likely have been removed from the bottom two floors of the building and most of the work will be concentrated on the upper “cone” level.
The exterior drop-off boxes were closed in August and scheduled to reopen Oct. 20. Other disruptions to the library are possible until the work is complete, expected in January 2024.
