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Carnegie Library

Current Proposals

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Request for Proposals

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Carnegie Library, owned by the City of Lawrence, was built in 1904 and is located on the northwest corner of 9th and Vermont Streets in downtown Lawrence.  The City has completed stabilization and structural renovation work.  A second improvement project will include ADA renovation, HVAC, and related interior improvements. That work is anticipated to be completed in the spring of 2007.

The City of Lawrence is entertaining proposals for the long-term public and/or private use of this building.  Proposals must provide the following information:

  • Description of the proposed use
  • A Business Plan that details the 1) economic resources, financial feasibility, organization and history of the proposing agency/group and 2) how the proposing agency/group will fund the proposed use and day-to-day operation of the use.
  • Information related to the use such as parking requirements, any public financial requirements, compatibility with current area land uses, downtown development goals of the city, building needs related to the use and any information that would assist the City Commission in understanding and evaluating the proposal

The City reserves the right to reject any or all proposals and to negotiate terms and conditions with applicants.  Any non-City user of the facility would enter into a lease agreement with the City.  The lease will require performance criteria.

Proposals will be judged as follows:  Proposed Use (40 points); Business Plan (40 points) and Related Information (20 points).  The City Commission is interested in maximizing public and community use, minimizing city costs/funding, compatibility with other downtown uses, a use that is compatible with the historic nature of the Carnegie Building and chances for long term success of the proposed use.

Proposals should be submitted to:

City of Lawrence

Attn:  Carnegie Library Use Proposal

City Manager’s Office

Fourth Floor, City Hall

6 East 6th Street

Lawrence, KS 66044

Deadline: Friday, January 20, 2006, 5:00 p.m.

See Standards for receiving deliverables via RFPs

Contacts: Mike Wildgen, City Manager, 785.832.3401

Steve Bennett, Bldg & Maintenance Supervisor, 785.832.3126 (facility tours)

David Dunfield, GLPMA Architects, 785.843.5554


[1] Insurance, utilities, maintenance, etc.

Standards for receiving deliverables via RFPs

The purpose of digital files is to provide electronic navigation of materials. Recognizing that electronic navigation differs greatly from paper copies and that hard copies will look very different from the electronic documents, vendors are encouraged to use a table of contents with hyperlinks to sections and supporting materials.

Vendors responding to City of Lawrence RFPs are asked to comply with the following;

In addition to output requested by issuing department, work should be submitted in PC format Microsoft Word files delivered either via email to the staff contact or if size requires, on a CD.

An alternative to providing a CD of materials is for the vendor to place the material on the city's ftp server. The location is ftp://ftp.ci.lawrence.ks.us/incoming/. The materials should be placed in a clearly labeled project folder and the vendor should notify the issuing department when the files are in place.

In the event that a vendor creates materials on a non-PC platform or in a software package other than a Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint, material should be submitted as a PDF file.

When maps, drawings, graphics, pictures or other non-text materials are included in a presentation, pdf files are acceptable. However, pdf use should be limited to non-text materials only. It is important that a main text document be a Word file with hyperlinks to the supporting pdf graphic files such as graphic-intensive materials like plats and maps.