Court Square Library To Close In February, Its Future Still Murky

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — The Queens Public Library's Court Square branch is due to close next month without finalized plans for a new home, and Long Island City residents and their local representatives say library officials need to speed up their search.

At a rally Wednesday in front of the library, a 3,200 square-foot space on the 45th Avenue side of the neighborhood's towering Citigroup building, local civic association members joined City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer to demand a new space in time for library services to continue uninterrupted.

"The library knew this deadline was coming. I believe they dragged their feet, and now we're in a crisis where this community is faced with the loss of public library services," Van Bramer said during the rally. "That is absolutely outrageous."

Van Bramer added that the Queens Public Library has identified two "very promising" locations for a new home but did not elaborate. Library officials will meet with stakeholders Thursday morning to provide an update.

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In response to the rally, Queens Public Library CEO Dennis Walcott said the organization is fully committed to having a library branch in Court Square and is working on finding an "affordable and appropriate" space.

"My team and I have worked for more than a year to find alternatives and have visited numerous locations," Walcott said in a statement. "The mischaracterization of our efforts is unfortunate."

The Court Square branch has called the Citigroup Tower home for just over 30 years, paying a yearly rent of just one dollar, according to THE CITY. Its sublease with Citigroup expired on Aug. 31, but library officials succeeded in negotiating an extension of almost a year.

Shortly after the library moves out, Citigroup will give up its million-square-foot space in the tower, owned by a real estate firm called Savanna. The space was previously slated for Amazon, which bailed on its lease, THE CITY reported.

"Savanna made clear it was not interested in working with us to stay there," Walcott, the library CEO, said in a statement Wednesday.

Queens Public Library spokesperson Elisabeth de Bourbon told Patch she couldn't confirm the exact date the library will close but said it will be sometime in February.

The library served about 100,000 people a year, according to Van Bramer, who represents Long Island City in the City Council and chairs its cultural affairs and libraries committee.

"There are so many children and young families who need this library," he said Wednesday.

Court Square Library should never close https://t.co/3QfKWviA47
— Jimmy Van Bramer (@JimmyVanBramer) January 8, 2020