Sunset Park Library Closes Next Week For Redevelopment Project

SUNSET PARK, NY — The Sunset Park library branch will close for several years starting on Monday for the large redevelopment plan that will put an eight-story building with apartments on top in its place, the Brooklyn Library announced.

The 5108 Fourth Ave. library's expected to be closed until 2020 while crews build a new, 18,200-square-foot branch in its place with 49 affordable housing apartments above it, according to the library.

During the construction, the Brooklyn Library plans to open an interim branch at 4201 Fourth Ave. but that spot won't be ready until May 14. All holds at the current Sunset Park branch will switch to the Borough Park Library from April 15 to May 10, the library said.

The city approved the redevelopment of the out-of-date library last year but the plan to sell the land to the nonprofit Fifth Avenue Committee to build apartments was met with criticism from some residents.

"This feels like this is a Trojan horse," resident Jeremy Kaplan previously told Patch, fearing that developers are "going to want the rest of 4th Avenue to be eight stories or more" afterward.

Fifth Avenue Committee plans to sell the library back to the city for $1 after construction but still own the apartments above it.

Image: Brooklyn Library