A municipal building boom is officially in full swing in Amherst, Mass., as dirt is flying on three important projects in the community: a new elementary school, an expansion and renovation of the Jones Library and a new track and field at the high school — all of which went through years of discussion before breaking ground.

At 70 South East St., next to Fort River School, construction that began in March of 2025 on the new $97.5 million elementary school that will house 575 K-5 students remains on schedule for a completion just in time for the 2026-2027 school year, the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton reported Aug. 10.

Meanwhile, in the center of Amherst, work on the $46.1 million Jones Library expansion and renovation is getting under way, even though most of the activity is not yet visible from the outside.

And at Amherst Regional High School, large piles of dirt can be seen for the $4.11 million track and field overhaul.

Future work in the city's pipeline could include a new Amherst 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 ongoing construction efforts is Bob Peirent, the city's special capital projects coordinator, who recently provided an update that indicated there are no major concerns with the timelines for completing each project.

Elementary School's Structure in Place

For the three-story, 105,750-sq.-ft. elementary school building, the prime contractor, Waltham, Mass.-based CTA Construction Managers LLC and its subcontractors should have work finished around mid-August 2026.

"The project is going well," Peirent told the Daily Gazette.

Though complicated by a delay earlier in its construction, which necessitated CTA crews getting on site in the middle of last winter rather than in the 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 using a technique known as pre-loading in which the soil is compacted to provide the base for raising the building, according to the Northampton news source.

Peirent noted that all of the structure's steel is in place, the concrete floors have been poured and the exterior walls are being finished. He added that crews are now beginning to tackle the school's mechanical and electrical work. Approximately half of the more than 80 geothermal wells that will provide heating and cooling to students, teachers and staff are already dug as well.

Until the new school is ready for occupancy, students will continue attending Fort River School for the fall of 2025 and spring of 2026. After they move into the building, the old one will be closed and eventually demolished prior to the site being repurposed for playing fields and other amenities associated with the new facility.

Library's 1990s-Era Addition Set for Demolition

At the Jones Library at 43 Amity St. in Amherst, where the construction is fully mobilized, the most obvious change to the property is the installation of a construction fence around the perimeter, a number of construction trailers and portable toilets and the removal of two large trees from the neighboring Amherst History Museum grounds, which will ease the expansion and renovation work for Fontaine Brothers Inc., located in Springfield.

The trees were taken down at the request of the Amherst Historical Society, which had originally intended to preserve them, before opting instead to ask Fontaine to carry out the work.

Inside the historic 1928 portion of the Jones Library is where most of the renovation is happening, the Daily Gazette reported, with floors, stairs, woodwork and fireplaces carefully protected from any damage as a result of the work.

Peirent told the newspaper that a lot of time is being invested in ensuring the historic building remains intact during the demolition of the 1990s-era addition.

Once that is done, razing the library's addition also will be completed with care, he said, with excavators pulling down that part of the building that includes the atrium and the Woodbury Room.

"Everything gets taken apart piece by piece," said Peirent.

The other reason for performing a careful demolition is that 75 percent of the debris that is generated must be repurposed, and will include separating the metals, the concrete and the drywall. A typical industry procedure, the City of Amherst also requires the practice, along with the stipulation that any asbestos and lead paint be disposed of properly, he said.

Once the library addition is razed, the new expansion's foundation will be poured this fall and its steel structure erected, with the entire project slated to be finished by December 2026.

The Jones Library is currently operating from temporary quarters at 100 University Dr.

Colliers, as the owner's project manager, has met with neighboring businesses to ensure that The Drake performance venue, next door to the library, has an emergency exit and space for its dumpster and that the nearby CVS Pharmacy is not losing any of its parking spaces.

New Track Will Host Its First Meet Since 2018

The other major project currently moving along in town is the track and field next to Amherst Regional High, a project under the supervision of M.J. Catalado Inc., a landscaping and construction company in Littleton, Mass.

According to the Daily Gazette, the eight-lane track is beginning to take shape with its gravel base ready to be graded and fine-tuned to a certain elevation before the first layer of asphalt is put down later in August. Following that, a second layer of asphalt will be placed on top of the first, and a urethane product will be applied as the top coat.

The high school may be able to host track meets next spring for the first time since 2018, when it was determined that the current track was no longer suitable for competition.

Plans call for a natural sodded field to be installed inside the track, with an additional seeded field also set to be built.

The Northampton news source also noted that the new high school track could possibly be used by athletes and the public this fall, though it is not expected that any sports events or practices would be allowed on the playing fields until the fall of 2026 at the earliest.