July 21, 2014 By Christian Murray
The installation of a new roof at Sunnyside library has been completed—about a month faster than officials had originally anticipated.
The library, located at 43-06 Greenpoint Ave., will reopen Thursday after being closed since June 24 to allow for the construction of the new roof. At the time, Queens library officials anticipated that it would take until mid August to complete.
The closure, while necessary, came at a difficult time for many children.
Thomas P. Noonan Playground, which is located across the street, was closed and is expected to remain so until next summer when its $2.2 million renovation is complete.
However, the speed in which it took to put up the new roof proved to be a win-win for Sunnyside, according to Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer. “We now have a roof that will last a generation and a library that will be open for most of summer,” he said.
Van Bramer said that with Thomas P Noonan Playground being closed, he made it clear that he wanted the new roof to go up as quickly as possible.
Van Bramer, however, said that the closure did put greater pressure on the Woodside branch, since it has had to handle the overflow of Sunnyside members.
Van Bramer said he is pushing to have the Woodside branch’s hours increased from five day to six day service—along with other Queens branches.
The installation of the new roof comes five years after the Sunnyside library underwent a $2.3 million renovation, which included interior and exterior improvements.
Van Bramer, who allocated $600,000 for the installation of the roof in 2013, said that the roof was not done as part of the $2.3 million renovation. He said that there were growing concerns in recent times that it was going to leak.
