The Seattle Public Library has signed an agreement with U.S. Bank to buy the bank's property at 22nd Avenue Northwest and Northwest 57th Street. Currently, plans call for building a spacious new Ballard Library, a Ballard Neighborhood Service Center and a U.S. Bank branch on the 40,000-square-foot site.
The agreement, which was announced at the Sept. 25 meeting of the Seattle Public Library board of trustees, clears the way for design work to begin immediately on the 15,000-square-foot branch. City Librarian Deborah L. Jacobs thanked Ballard residents for their patience as the Library and the bank worked out the details of the complex agreement. The Library Board identified the bank property as its first preference for the site of the new library in September 2000.
"This site clearly was the community's choice for the new library and we thought it was important to take the time to make the agreement work for everyone," Jacobs said.
The site, which is across the street from a future park, was included as a possible library location in Ballard's municipal center master plan. It is within one block of Market Street and offers high visibility.
Jacobs also thanked the Ballard Library Project Advisory Committee, which met several times to discuss the community's design goals for the library. The committee is made up of members of the community and the design team, the business community, and representatives from the organizations that will be housed on the site. Linda Larson, Library Board vice president and branch board steward, also was on the committee.
Now that an agreement has been reached, the Library Board will re-examine the project schedule, and the Library's architect, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, will begin the design and permitting process. At mid-schematic design, the bank will decide whether to rebuild on the site with the library and the neighborhood service center. Construction, which could take 18 months, is expected to begin in 2003.
The existing 7,296-square-foot Ballard Library was built in 1963. The new branch will have more seats, an expanded collection of 66,700 books and materials, expanded reference areas, larger areas for children and young adults, more computer space, a meeting room and more parking.
The new $6.5 million library will be funded by the $196.4 million "Libraries for All" bond measure that Seattle voters passed in 1998. The plan calls for improving or replacing all 22 branch libraries, building five new branches and building a new central library. For more information about Libraries for All, visit the Library's Web site at www.spl.org and select "Libraries for All capital projects."
The 3,600-square-foot neighborhood service center will be funded by the $72 million Seattle Center/Community Centers levy that Seattle voters passed in 1999. U.S. Bank will pay its own design and construction costs.
(For more information, call Caroline Young Ullmann, communications assistant, at 206-615-1627.)
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Content modified: 27 September 2001
12/30/2005
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