A plan to build a nine-story central library at Park Boulevard and J Street moved one step closer to fruition April 30 when the builder agreed to proceed with the project at the same cost it had originally estimated in 2005. When library and city officials met with Turner Construction about the project in 2005, the company estimated expenses of $145 million for construction and approximately $40 million for architecture and engineering fees, furniture and fixtures. The City Council declined to approve the project until the library system had secured enough funding to build the new facility, said Marion Moss Hubbard, San Diego Public Library’s public information officer. Since that time, the library has garnered approximately $148.5 million from several sources: $80 million from the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC), $28.5 million from San Diego Public Library Foundation, $20 million from California State Library and $20 million from the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), which is part of a 40-year lease agreement for a charter school that will be housed on the new facility’s sixth and seventh floors, Moss Hubbard said. But officials close to the project were concerned that inflation and building costs would tack millions more to the price tag after the five-year wait. Turner alleviated those fears April 30 by guaranteeing they could move forward with construction at the original cost. As a contractor at risk, Turner has agreed to absorb any additional construction costs if the project becomes more expensive than they had anticipated. The proposed library would replace the existing library on E Street, which was built in 1954. Moss Hubbard said that more than two-thirds of the existing central library’s collection is stored in the basement because the facility is not big enough to display all the works on the shelves. “We have so many great treasures at the library, and this is really going to help amplify that,” Moss Hubbard said. At 294,673 square feet, the new facility would be more than twice as big as the existing library and would include space for six meeting rooms, 22 study rooms, a 3,600-square-foot event center on the ninth floor, a 3,000-square-foot gallery and exhibition room and a new homework center. The new facility would also help the central library provide better service to each of the branches in the system, including central processing, collection development and reference assistance, Moss Hubbard said. “Just as the branches are kind of the heart of the community, the central library is kind of the heart of the whole library system,” she said. The project will now move to the City Council’s Rules Committee for review and will be passed on to the council for a final vote this summer. The library needs to break ground by Aug. 1 to keep the funding pledged by the California State Library.