AMHERST — A municipal building boom is officially in full swing in town, as dirt is flying for three significant projects – a new elementary school, an expansion and renovation of the Jones Library and a new track and field at the high school – that went through years of discussion before breaking ground.
At 70 South East St. next to Fort River School, construction that began in March on the new $97.5 million elementary school that will house 575 K-5 students remains on schedule to be complete in time for the 2026-2027 school year.
Meanwhile, in the center of town, work on the $46.1 million Jones Library expansion and renovation is getting underway, even though most of the activity isn’t yet visible from the outside, while at Amherst Regional High School large piles of dirt are the prominent sight for the $4.11 million track and field overhaul.
Future work in the pipeline could include a new Department of Public Works headquarters and South Amherst fire station, as well as $2.8 million in improvements to the Bangs Community Center.
Helping to oversee each of the three developments is special capital projects coordinator Bob Peirent, who last week provided an update indicating there are no significant concerns with the timelines for completing the work.
For the three-story, 105,750-square-foot net-zero school building, general contractor CTA Construction Managers LLC of Waltham and its subcontractors should have work finished around this time next year.
“The project is going well,” Peirent said.
Though complicated by a delay caused by a challenge filed against the low bidder, which necessitated CTA crews getting on site in the middle of this winter rather than last fall, the expectation remains that the school building will be fully functional for the entire 2026-2027 school year.
Early site work began in February 2024 through a technique known as pre-loading of the site to compact the soils and provide the base for raising the building.
All steel is in place, all concrete floors have been poured and the exterior walls are being closed in. Peirent said the mechanical and electrical work is also beginning.
About half of the more than 80 geothermal wells that will provide heating and cooling are already dug, too.
Students will continue at Fort River School this fall and next spring, but that building will be closed and eventually razed once the new building is ready for occupancy. The site of that school will be repurposed for playing fields and other amenities associated with the new school.
At the Jones Library at 43 Amity St., where construction is fully mobilized, the most obvious change is the installation of a construction fence around the perimeter, construction trailers and portable toilets, and removal of two large trees from the neighboring Amherst History Museum grounds, which will ease the work for Fontaine Brothers of Springfield.
Those trees were taken down at the request of the Amherst Historical Society, which had originally intended to preserve both, but opted instead to ask Fontaine to do the work.
Inside the historic 1928 portion of the Jones is where most work is currently ongoing, with floors, stairs, woodwork and fireplaces being protected from any damage. Peirent said a lot of time is being invested in ensuring the historic building remains intact during demolition of the 1990s addition.
Once this is done, the tear down will be completed with care, with excavators pulling down that part of the building that includes the atrium and the Woodbury Room.
“Everything gets taken apart piece by piece,” Peirent said.
The other reason to do demolition in a delicate manner is that 75% of the waste generated, by weight, has to be repurposed, including separating the metals, concrete and drywall. This is a requirement of the town and is a typical industry standard, with any asbestos and lead paint being disposed of, he said.
Once demolition is finished, the foundation will be poured this fall and then steel will be erected, with the entire project to be finished by December 2026. The Jones Library is currently operating from temporary quarters at 100 University Drive.
Colliers, as owner’s project manager, has met with neighboring businesses, ensuring that The Drake performance venue has an emergency exit and space for its dumpster and that CVS Pharmacy is not losing any of its parking spaces.
The final major project is the track and field next to the high school, being handled by M.J. Catalado Inc., a landscaping and construction company from Littleton. The eight-lane track is starting to take shape with the base of gravel that will be graded and fine tuned to an elevation, before the first layer of asphalt is put down later in August, with a second layer of asphalt going on top of that, and then a urethane product for the top coat.
In spring 2026, the high school may be able to host track meets for the first time since 2018, when the current track was determined to no longer be suitable for competition.
Inside the track will be a natural sodded field, with a second seeded field to also be built.
The new track could be usable by athletics and the public this fall, though it is not expected that any sports games or practices would be on the playing fields until fall 2026, at the earliest.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
