Hunters Point Library location
April 2, 2015 By Christian Murray
A groundbreaking is scheduled for the highly-anticipated Hunters Point library on May 16.
The event will come just two months after it was announced that the city had generated the funds needed to build the elaborate library.
Construction of the library, which will be built at Center Blvd/48th Ave (next to Gantry Plaza State Park), was expected to begin in 2013. However, it was caught up in red tape after the city was unable to find a contractor willing to build it for the $28.6 million that had been allocated.
The bids came in ranging from $33 million to $42 million and the city had to do some value engineering in order to find a construction company that would build it within budget. Furthermore, additional funding was found.
In other news, the Court Square library, located on the ground floor of the Citibank Building, is undergoing an expansion that is expected to be completed in about two months, according to a library official. The fire alarms still need to be installed and the Department of Buildings has to inspect it before it can open.
With the extension, the library will be 3,200 square feet in total, up from its current size of 2,000 square feet.
“The [new] space is going to encompass a children’s room and a separate meetings/program room,” said Joanne King, Director of Communications with the Queens Library.
This expansion will allow the library to better serve the needs of the growing community, King said.
“Right now, the library has a tiny children’s section…but there are a lot of kids in the neighborhood,” she said.
