January 16 Note: Bid opening date has been changed to Wednesday, January 28.
The Seattle Public Library’s Lake
City Branch,
12501 28th Ave. N.E., will shut its doors at 5 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 15, so construction can begin on an
exciting new expansion project.
The Library intends to add staff to the Broadview
and University branches and to the Northgate Temporary
Service Site to help meet the need for library service
during the closure. Beginning Feb. 22, the Broadview
Branch also will open on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5
p.m.
While opening dates have not yet been set,
two newly improved branches in the area are expected
to reopen over the next several months. The Library
anticipates reopening the renovated Green Lake Branch
in the first quarter of 2004 and the expanded North
East Branch mid-year.
In addition, librarians will continue community
outreach to children and young adults and will make
school visits in the Lake City area.
Users may choose any other location of The
Seattle Public Library as a pickup location for items
placed on hold, interlibrary loan requests or purchase
suggestions. Library materials may be returned to
any branch.
The closest branches to the Lake City Branch
are the Broadview Branch, 12755 Greenwood Ave. N.,
206-684-7519; and the University Branch, 5009 Roosevelt
Way N.E., 206-684-4063, and the Northgate Temporary
Service Site, 10548 Fifth Ave. N.E., 206-386-1980.
The expansion of the Lake City Branch is part
of the Lake City Civic Core, which also includes
a relocated neighborhood service center, public plaza,
park improvements, and a parking garage. Contractor
bids are due Wednesday, Jan. 21.
The project includes expanding the 9,013-square-foot
Lake City Branch to 15,289 square feet, a 4,994-square-foot
neighborhood service center, improvements to the
Albert Davis Park, and a 62-car underground parking
garage topped by a public plaza.
The branch project will feature an updated
collection capacity of 66,700 books and materials,
more seats, a meeting room, and upgraded technology.
The existing branch was built in 1965.
Seattle’s Landmarks Preservation Board voted
in June 2001 to designate the branch as a landmark
building and the Library has worked with the landmarks
board throughout the design process to preserve the
architectural character of the building.
Designers at ARC Architects designed the branch
expansion to create a civic presence for the expanded
branch and neighborhood service center, preserving
the entrance courtyard and its bronze gates designed
by renowned Seattle artist and sculptor George Tsutakawa.
Hewitt Architects designed the parking garage, plaza
and the park improvements.
Images of the design for the branch and neighborhood
service center may be viewed at http://www.spl.org/lfa/neighborhoodlibs/lakecity/lcydesigns.html.
The building also will include artwork by artists
Linda Haworth and Jane Grafton. Haworth and
Grafton are creating glass walls that will
embody cast-glass
objects that represent the theme “Collections” for
the expanded branch and neighborhood service
center. A steel framework will hold the glass walls.
After the Lake City Branch closes, staff will
prepare the books and other materials to be
moved out of the building, which will take about
a month.
Construction work, which will begin after the
materials are moved out, is expected to last about
a year.
The expanded branch is projected to open in
mid-2005 after the equipment, books and materials
are moved
back into the building.
The $3,788,201 branch expansion project is
part of the $196.4 million “Libraries for All” bond
measure that Seattle voters passed in 1998.
The bond money, which can be used only for construction
of
libraries, is funding a new central library
and new and improved branches. The $72 million Seattle
Center/Community
Centers levy that Seattle voters passed in
1999 will fund the neighborhood service center.
To date, the Library has completed the Capitol
Hill, Delridge, NewHolly and Wallingford branches.
The expanded Rainier Beach Branch will reopen
at noon Saturday, Jan. 17. The Central Library and
the
Ballard, Beacon Hill, Columbia, Green Lake,
Greenwood, High Point, Lake City, North East, and
West Seattle
branches are currently in the construction
phase, and planning and design is under way for many
other
branches.
The Seattle Public Library Foundation is in
the midst of a “Campaign for Seattle’s
Public Libraries” with the goal of raising
$77.5 million from private sources to enhance the
public bond commitment. Every dollar raised will
ensure the Library system reflects our community’s
needs in buildings, books, technology and people,
long into the future. For more information about “Libraries
for All” or the Foundation, visit the Library’s
Web site at www.spl.org.
(For more information, call Caroline Young Ullmann, communications assistant, 206-615-1627.)
Return to the Libraries for All capital projects page
Return to the list of Libraries for All press release headlines
Content modified: 16 January 2004
12/30/2005
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