El Gabilan Branch Library

The new El Gabilan Branch Library is a $21 million project two-story, 21,076 square foot building for the City of Salinas that includes a spacious main lobby, a tech maker space, and of course, library circulation faculties. The new library is designed with a community focus that features an outdoor children’s zone, a teen area, homework help area and an outdoor patio and amphitheater. Parking for staff and members of the public is also included in the design for the project.

Project Successes

The City originally pursued the new library through a traditional Design-Bid-Build process but after bids came in too high, the City asked PFG and Griffin Swinerton if they could meet the City’s budget on the library project and if so, could the library project be incorporated into the Police Services Headquarters Building project. Thanks to the flexibility of the team and the 63-20 PDB contracting structure, the project team met the City’s budget requirements, and the library was delivered on the same expedited timeline as the police station.
Construction on the project took 16 months. The project was completed on-time and on-budget despite being delivered during a time of unprecedented federal trade tariffs.
In July 2020, the El Gabilan Library project won the ENR California 2020 Cultural/Worship Merit Award – Northern Region
Awarded an IEDC International Economic Development Council’s 2020 Excellence in Economic Development Award in the category of Public-Private Partnerships.