Petersburg Library Foundation

September 3, 2008

Council OKs $5M for new library
Excerpted from The Progress-Index
BY F.M. WIGGINS
STAFF WRITER

PETERSBURG — City Council voted unanimously last night to provide $5 million to the Petersburg Library Foundation toward the construction of a new library.

“The library foundation is proceeding with its plans to construct a new library to be located at 22-24 N. Market St.,” City Manager B. David Canada said. “The foundation has pledged to raise $11 million of the $16 million project cost.”

Canada added that the $16 million is the current estimated cost to complete the new library. The foundation requested that the city provide the $5 million needed to complete the project. After construction, the foundation will transfer all rights to the new library to the City of Petersburg to use as a public library. The $5 million fulfills the city’s commitment to provide 30 percent of the total building costs, Canada said.

Chairman of the Petersburg Library Foundation Robert Walker said he is confident that the foundation will be able to find $3 to $5 million of the remaining $11 million through national foundations and the remainder can be obtained from corporations.

“For this type of project, it’s easier to go to corporate America,” Walker said. Walker was the lead developer on the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, which he said cost $9 million and was harder to find private funding for.

Councilman Carl Ross asked what the projected time frame is for the foundation to complete raising funding for the new library.

“We think it will take about four years to raise the money and 18 months to build the library,” Walker said.

Canada said the city has previously contributed $400,000 to purchase the site for the new library. He added that there wasn’t a better option and the library will have a great new home.

January 23, 2008

Local Architecture Firm To Design One of the Largest Public Spaces
in Petersburg’s History

The Petersburg Library Foundation has selected local architectural firm Enteros Design, P.C. to design the new headquarters of the Petersburg Public Library System, one of the largest public space in the city’s 260-year history. The Foundation was formed in 2002 with a mission to provide financial support for
the purchase, construction and operation of a new library. It is made up of 15 voluntary board members.

Enteros Design, P.C. is a full-service architecture firm located at 314 Exchange Alley in Old Towne Petersburg. Firm President Gil Entzminger, AIA started Enteros Design in 2004 after moving to Petersburg and restoring his home on Jefferson Street with his wife Carolyn. Entzminger was attracted to Petersburg because of the “extraordinary historic architecture and character of Old Towne.” After visiting for the first time, Entzminger was determined to move to Petersburg, establish his firm in Old Towne and help revitalize the city.

Entzminger brings to Enteros Design a wide range of commercial and residential experience that spans eight states and the District of Colombia. The firm’s name is derived from the prefix “ent” (to put into or within) and the first letters of the words “expression,” “rhythm,” “order” and “structure,”the characteristics, according to Entzminger, which Enteros Design strives to put into each and every design they create in order to increase human interaction and an emotional experience within the built environment.