Reminder: Brooklyn Heights Library Closing at the End of July

Pictured: The proposed design for the new Brooklyn Heights Library. Rendering courtesy of Marvel Architects

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The Brooklyn Heights Library will be closing at the end of July, Brooklyn Public Library spokesman Adam Leddy confirmed Monday.

A sign in the library's lobby last week reminded patrons of the change, but didn't list a specific closing date (Leddy also didn't immediately provide a date to Patch).

The branch, located at 280 Cadman Plaza West, is scheduled to be demolished by the property's new owner, Hudson Companies. It will be replaced by a 36-story luxury condo tower with a new library inside.

As per Hudson's development deal with the city, the new library will be open seven days a week and will include STEM education labs.

Hudson has also agreed to construct a second, 5,000 square foot library in the vicinity of the Farragut Houses in DUMBO, as well as 115 units of affordable housing in Clinton Hill.

According to the Brooklyn Public Library, work at the Brooklyn Heights site will take about three-and-a-half years, during which a temporary library will be run out of Our Lady of Lebanon Church, located nearby at 95 Remsen St. That facility will also open at the end of July, Leddy said.

The development project was passionately opposed by a collection of community groups, key among them Citizens Defending Libraries, which has called for an increase in city funding for public branches, rather than their privatization.

But the BPL has argued the community will get a state-of-the-art facility out of the arrangement.

In May, city and federal investigators announced that they were examining whether Hudson received preferential treatment during the bidding process for the library's property. Both the BPL and Hudson head David Kramer have defended the deal and the selection process behind it.

Additionally, community member Marsha Rimler is suing the BPL and the city over the sale, as reported by the Brooklyn Eagle, in an attempt to stop the project. Among the suit's assertions, according to the paper: that the project will produce unbearable traffic in the neighborhood, and that the condo building will cast a shadow over Cadman Park Plaza.