Decades After Requested, Rego Park Library Revamp Plans Revealed

REGO PARK, QUEENS — The Rego Park library is finally slated to get a $33.2 million facelift that's been decades in the making, newly revealed plans show.

Community members and elected officials have been pushing for a larger, new library at 91-41 63 Drive since the 1990s, and although the project was fully funded in 2017, construction was delayed amid the pandemic, pushing the completion date back to 2024.

"CB6 has been waiting since 1993 — 1993! — to secure this funding, and to wait until 2024 to see this library built is totally ridiculous," said Queens Community Board 6 District Manager Frank Gulluscio at a budget hearing earlier this year, where he named the project as the district's top priority.

Gulluscio called the delays "unbelievable," saying that — at the time — it added insult to injury to see plans for new libraries in Astoria and Richmond Hill move forward, while the community hadn't even seen drawings of the new Rego Park branch.

"What in the world's going on? Goodness gracious, show me a rendering at least!" he said to Patch in February.

On Wednesday, nearly five months later, Gulluscio's request was met, when officials revealed the library's new design.

The new light-filled, two-story building, which will replace the existing brick, one-story branch, will be more than double the size of the original library, featuring a separate children's reading room, as well as more space for computer use and programming. The library will also be updated to be fully accessible.

"Libraries are centers of learning as well as valuable community spaces and this project achieves both of those goals," said Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Commissioner Jamie Torres-Springer, who oversees the agency that's managing this project.

As predicted by John Katimaris, vice president of capital projects for the Queens Public Library, the library's construction timeline from earlier this year — breaking ground in 2021 and completing building in 2024 — has proven to bee too optimistic.

Instead, the project is expected to begin construction towards the end of 2022, and wrap up mid-2025, according to a news release.

This updated timeline means that longtime City Council Member Karen Koslowitz won't be in office when the library groundbreaking happens (as promised), she is still optimistic that the newly revealed plans mean that "this library project is finally on its way to completion."

On his part, Gulluscio, is excited to see the plan moving forwards, too.

“We enthusiastically look forward to the project coming to fruition for our community," he said.