The site of the former Jessie Hill School and Redmond Public Library has blossomed from a razed lot into what will soon to be a massive two-story public library that officials expect to open in the fall.

During the roughly two years of construction, readers and library enthusiasts have been using the smaller, temporary library space at 2127 S Highway 97.

Todd Dunkelberg, library director, said it’s going to make a huge difference once the new library opens and the public can move from the 8,000-square-foot temporary space to the new 40,000-square-foot-facility that will tower over Centennial Park.

Dunkelberg said despite a week of bad weather, crews are on track to have the facility ready for a grand opening in either October or November. He said so far the project is on budget and on time.

“Our whole team did a really good job of estimating what the costs would be,” said Dunkelberg. “There are no surprises, and we didn’t run into anything where for example we got partway through and realized we didn’t have enough money and we had to start cutting things out. Everything that we wanted to get in that building is going in that building.”

Dunkelberg said he is relieved that a lot of the heavy lifting on the outside of the building was finished before the worst of the weather blew in.

“We are in really good shape because they just finished sealing up the building after getting all the glass and walls and doors in,” Dunkelberg said.

Greg Holcomb is a partner with Redpoint Construction Management, the firm hired to manage the new library project. He said finishing the building’s exterior allows construction crews to start work on the plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems inside the new library.

“It was a coincidence more than anything that the glass was scheduled to be installed,” Holcomb said. “We were fortunate to get almost all of our glass installed and sealed up prior to this big storm here. It is made for keeping the building interior dry and warm and the workers are going to town.”

Holcomb said the building’s roof is almost 90 percent complete, and that the exterior walls are finished and soon will be bricked up. He said in the face of supply chain challenges, the design and construction made sure to be proactive.

“A lot of the industry has really struggled with getting switchgear and electrical transformers because there are very long lead times right now in the industry,” Holcomb said. “We were actually purchasing materials very early in the project to give ourselves plenty of time to order, and allow manufacturers to make the products and ship them out to us. So far that has been very positive.”

The team ordered the elevator and mechanical and electrical equipment very early to avoid backlogs and delays, Holcomb said. At this point things are going as smoothly as they can, and Holcomb is confident things will stay on track.

“We will deal with the weather and see how that impacts us as we go,” Holcomb said.

Dunkelberg said the children’s play area and large community areas are all going in as planned. The interactive elements for children are among the things he is most excited about, as they can help to guide them to become avid readers.

“When we say play, we actually design everything around different elements such as letter recognition, sound and movement,” he said. “Physical movement and rhyming — a ll of those things are built in there because those are all the skills kids need to develop in order to become readers.”