Library Closes for Good

By Erica Williams
Staff Writer

March 22 -- With design plans for the new Main Library all but finalized and construction imminent, the old facility closes to the public Sunday afternoon to prepare for the move to its new temporary quarters at 1324 Fifth Street.

The three-story bank building that will temporarily house the library's 250,000-volume collection, furniture and equipment will open to the public in mid-to-late April, said City Librarian Wini Allard. The City will lease the building for two years while construction of the new facility is underway.

The surface parking lot west of the library will remain open until May 1, when construction fencing goes up around the entire perimeter of the site and demolition of the existing structure begins, City officials said. While there will be less parking during construction, approximately 325 public parking spaces will be gained when the new library is finished in June 2005.

The current building, however, will host the April 3 Library Board meeting, where the architectural firm Moore Ruble Yudell (MRY) will present its latest plan. It'll be a chance for the community to get a real sense of the look and feel of the new library, Allard said.

Besides the architect, everyone involved in the design effort -- interior designers, artists, lighting designers, landscape architects, graphic designers -- will be on hand for this public unveiling before construction begins, Allard said.

The design will then get a final look from the Architecture Review Board. At its April 21meeting the board will address some specific questions (such as street tree removal) it has raised. The ARB, which is happy with the overall design, will likely be the final step in the design approval phase, Allard said.

During the past two months, the City Council and Planning Commission -- dissatisfied with the changes the architect made to address concerns about inadequate landscaping and the building's aesthetics and pedestrian experience -- sent plans for the 102,508-square-foot, two-story project back to the drawing board for further tweaking.

It seemed the action might threaten the May 1 start-date for demolition of the old structure. But the in the end, the architect came back with changes that the Planning Commission embraced and that have enhanced the design, Allard said.

"I think it has actually made it a better building," she said.

The Council approved $57 million to build the new Main Library and $2.8 million to tear down the existing structure at its meeting January 28. Largely bankrolled with a $25 million bond passed by voters in 1998, the new library boasts nearly twice the floor space and nearly triples the parking space of the original. It also swells the existing collection by 50,000 volumes.

In addition, the new library will include a community conference room, a tutoring room, a computer lab (with 50 computers), a children's room, an expanded main reading room, a new staff and boardroom and a center courtyard. The facility also will house the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum in 5,000 square feet of space.

The new structure -- which would extend into the current 189-space surface parking lot -- will include a three-level subterranean parking structure with 559 spaces accessed on 7th Street. At least 157 of the spaces will be available to Downtown motorists.

The library's move to its home on Fifth Street for the next two years will cost about $137,000 and will be handled by the Beltmann Group. Morley Construction, builders of the new Cathedral in Downtown LA, will handle demolition and construction.