New $41M Hunters Point Library Is Already Leaking: Report

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — The $41 million Hunters Point Library may have just opened last month, but it's reportedly already leaking.

The Steven Holl Architects-designed building, which opened Sept. 24 after eight years of planning and construction, has leaky ceilings and water damage after only a month in use, a librarian told the New York Post.

"When it rains, we have leaks," the librarian told the Post.

That's far from the only issue the multimillion-dollar public library has seen since it opened on Long Island City's waterfront.

There are several large cracks in the floors, including one that stretches roughly 10 feet, the Post reported. And a curved wall in the children's section was blocked off by rolling bookshelves so kids wouldn't climb it and hurt themselves, according to the Post.

The new library has just one elevator, and a series of tiered levels just above the lobby is only accessible by stairs. Periodicals and part of the library's fiction collection were housed on those levels until a Gothamist report on the issue prompted library staffers to move those items.

The city Department of Design and Construction did not respond to specific questions from the Post about the myriad issues.

Queens Public Library spokesperson Elisabeth de Bourbon told the Post that the DDC is still doing minor work on the building.