Public Workshops to Shape Concepts for Southdale Library

Members of the public can help shape concepts for the Southdale Library site at two upcoming interactive workshops. A workshop to shape preliminary concepts will be held from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 12.

Revised concepts will be reviewed at a workshop from 7 to 9 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 9. Both workshops will be held at the Southdale Library, 7001 York Ave.

Neighbors, library patrons and other community members from Richfield, South Minneapolis, Bloomington and Edina are invited to one or both of the workshops. Participants will work together in small and large groups.

In the next three to five years, the Southdale Library will be rebuilt, but there is room for much more. With the May 2016 relocation of the Hennepin County Service Center and the relocation of the Minnesota Fourth District Court facilities to Bloomington Civic Plaza in 2019, many changes are anticipated for the large 8-acre site, according to a news release.

Design concepts will be included in a Request for Proposals that will be issued to the real estate development community. Formal proposals will most likely be solicited in the spring and forwarded to the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners to make a final selection later in 2017.

Additional public meetings to discuss specific details of library programs and design are planned for later in 2017 and 2018.

For more information, call (952) 826-0407.

Image via Shutterstock