Sunset Park Library Redevelopment Approved By City

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — A controversial plan to redevelop the Sunset Park Library into an eight-story building with apartments on top of it has the unanimous support of the New York City Council, capping a year-long public review process for the facility.

The new library will contain 18,200 square feet of space available to the public and will be "outfitted for the modern era, with the collections, technology and flexible space needed to accommodate many uses and serve a large, diverse patronship," a release from the library said.

Above it, 49 units of affordable housing will be built and distributed through the city's lottery process. Half of the units will be awarded to members of the community, and nine will go to survivors of domestic abuse.

"For the past two years, Sunset Park stakeholders and I have held public meetings and hearings on how to rebuild our aging library," City Councilmember Carlos Menchaca, who represents Sunset Park, said in a press release. "A call for an expanded and modern library that meets local needs such as affordable housing and community space was at the center of this process. Together, we’ve worked to ensure that our residents’ recommendations were heard. Today, the New York City Council voted unanimously in approval of a project that includes legal requirements for 100% affordable housing and a permanently protected community library."

Critics disagreed with the decision to sell the land to the nonprofit Fifth Avenue Committee, the developer on the project, who will sell the library back to the city for $1 and own the apartments above.

"We just threw another generation of children under the bus," Community member Maria Roca, who wanted to see the land stay in public hands and have an education center added to it, told Community Board 7 when it backed the project.

The current library, supporters say, is out of date and poorly designed for public use, and this plan will greatly expand the offerings of one of the borough's busiest library branches.

The city council voted unanimously to approve the project, which was also backed by Community Board 7 and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams' office.

"Thanks to the support of the City Council and the residents of Sunset Park, we will soon begin construction of a library that will offer the robust and diverse programming, large multilingual collection and comfortable, inspiring environment that our patrons and staff deserve," Brooklyn Public Library President Linda E. Johnson said in a press release.

"We look forward to designing and building the new Sunset Park Library with input from the community."

Demolition will begin later this year, and the library is scheduled to reopen in 2020.

SEE ALSO:

• Sunset Parkers Raise Questions and Concerns Over Library Redevelopment Plan
• Controversial Plan to Rebuild Sunset Park Library Is Now One Step Closer to Reality
• Sunset Park Library Project Gets Backing of Brooklyn Borough President