Gary Amberik is the chair of the Abbot Public Building Renovation Committee and the Abbot Public Library Board of Trustees. He has been with the renovation project from almost the very beginning.
“So back in 2018, there was an article in the local Marblehead paper looking for people to help with the renovation of the Abbott library,” Amberik said. “I’m obviously a Marblehead resident and my background is in design and construction so I felt like I could be of assistance with the project.”
Since this project has been in the works for many years, he said there have been some challenges along the way.
“We had to convince the voters that we needed to complete the project, that the library had a real need to improve the mechanical systems of the library. And we’ve also obviously lived through COVID, so that was obviously challenging. And we’ve also now more recently gone through a lot of market escalation,” Amberik said.
Due to the market escalation they had to work hard to bring the budget down to the original $9.5 million.
Despite these early challenges, construction on the library has begun.
“It’s going well, we’re into the early demolition phase, they mostly set up a construction site, construction fence around the project site, and had the dumpster delivered,” Amberik said.
The main focus of the renovations is the “infrastructure of the building,” which includes the electrical and heating systems.
“Alongside that, since we need to open up walls and take down ceilings to install that new mechanical infrastructure, we’re going to also replace ceilings, replace carpeting, paint the entire building and just in general improve the finishes within the space,” Amberik said.
Opening the newly renovated space in the spring of 2024 is something he is really looking forward to.
“And inviting the rest of the town back to the library to see everything that we’ve done to improve the space. I think that’s what I’m most excited about,” Amberik said.