The Greenpoint community, including students from PS 34, joined Brooklyn Public Library President and CEO Linda Johnson and a host of local elected officials, to break ground on Greenpoint’s new Library and Environmental Education Center this Monday afternoon, October 23rd. The new library will stand on the site of the recently demolished Greenpoint Library (107 Norman Avenue). That location has been home to a library since 1906. The original Greenpoint Library, torn down due to structural damage in the 1970s, was one of Brooklyn’s first Carnegie Libraries, a group of institutions founded “to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.” The new Library and Environmental Education Center will help further that mission in the 21st century. The new library, designed to exceed the standards for LEED Silver Green Building Certification, will be double the size of the old Greenpoint Library, provide over 300 hours of environmental education per year, and sport a variety of exciting features including an accessible green roof and a public plaza with flexible meeting and event spaces.
At the ceremony, Johnson said, “in addition to being a top-tier, full service, modern library, the building will act as a center for environmental stewardship, with public programs, workshops and exhibitions tackling local and global environmental challenges.” The new Library and Environmental Center was made possible by a $5 million grant from the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund, $14 million from the City’s Capital Funds and $1.8 million from the New York State Education Department.
The new library is slated to open by the end of 2018. Until then, there will be bookmobile service on Norman Avenue on Tuesdays and Thursdays; the Park Church Co-op (109 Russell St.) is hosting a pop-up library, and you can visit the Leonard Branch (81 Devoe St.) or the Williamsburgh Branch (240 Division Avenue).