Charleston Carnegie Public Library renewed a loan to pay off the construction that had expanded the building three years ago.

Jeanne Hamilton, the director of the library, said the construction to the library was completed in 2009.

The construction included an overall expansion of the library and renovations to the original building.

Hamilton said the project tripled the size of the original library.

Michael Macky, a project manager at PSA-Dewberry/BCA, said when the company designed the addition to the library, the size increase was dramatic.

She said the library was built in 1904 and was partly funded by Andrew Carnegie.

“He donated to 2,000 libraries in different states and helped them get start,” Hamilton said.

She said even more than half of the library is new, the former director and board of trustees wanted to keep the building exterior and interior consistent.

“We tried to keep a lot of the original feel and restored some of the woodwork,” Hamilton said.

Macky said the company designed the building to match the original.

“I think in terms of the scale of the different elements, it does a nice job and fits in with the original,” he said.

The many columns in the newer parts of the library fit into the style but also serve a purpose, Mackey said.

He said libraries have different requirements on how much weight they can hold per square foot.

“Requirements for the structure, they are much greater than other buildings,” Macky said. “It’s a 150 pounds per square foot. The columns are used to basically hold the structure and hold the books.”

He said the company also designed a vertical space to connect all the levels all the building.

“They had two additions to the original Carnegie,” he said. “Both of the additions were different levels so not on the same level as the (original) Carnegie Library. What that did was solve a whole series of connection issues in terms of making the library not only accessible but have some flow to the library.”

The original east entrance to the library is now closed and only used for emergency exits. A west entrance was made along with a parking lot.

Hamilton said with the expansion, they were able to add more accommodations to the library.

She said the library now has a teen section and has more space for computers and books.

Despite completing the project in 2009, Hamilton said the library acquired the loan for an amount of $400,000 in 2010.

The loan paid for the construction bill, she said.

When the loan was renewed on Feb. 5, the city co-signed, and the interest rate was lowered to 1.95 percent.

Hamilton said so far, the library has paid off about $30,000 a year towards the loan.

“We’ll be paying a lot less in interest and a lot more towards the principal of it, bringing that loan cost down,” she said.

Hamilton said the library expanded because it did not accommodate the population of Charleston.

“It was just such a small area to serve such a big population,” she said. “You can see that the majority of the building is on the new part and so (the original part) was really small before.”

Amanda Wilkinson can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].