“This project has been in the works for almost six years now,” said Michael Alvarez, the Bronx Library Center’s chief librarian, noting that the search for a space went as far back as when Borough President Fernando Ferrer and Councilwoman June Eisland were in office and continued with help from their successors, Borough President Adolfo Carrion, Jr. and Councilman G. Oliver Koppell.
“The community has fought for it and it’s finally going to happen,” he added.
The new Kingsbridge Library, at W. 231st Street and Corlear Avenue, will be a 12,625 square foot building designed to replace the existing facility local residents have outgrown.
“The existing library was simply too small,” Alvarez said.
Features of the new facility include 32 new public access computers, wireless Internet service, a community room with seating for 50 persons, separate reading rooms for adults and teenagers, a Story Hour room for children, and a sleek, glass curtain wall filling the Library with light. Further, the new building will be fully accessible to individuals with disabilities.
The construction of the new building is going to cost over $14 million dollars. Helping to fund this monumental undertaking were Koppell, and Carrion, who both donated over $3 million dollars for the construction.
According to Alvarez the new library will have special opportunities for neighborhood youths to spend their time in a positive manner. There will be poetry writing, magic shows, teen advisory groups, and weekly meetings where the kids will have the change to voice their opinions, and in turn help to mold library’s agenda around their wants and needs.
The upcoming construction came as welcome news to Eisland, who looks forward to the library’s opening.
The Library is expected to open in the spring of 2011.
