Holmdel Library Moving to Bell Works in 2017

HOLMDEL, NJ - Patch has reported on this before, but now the news is official: The Holmdel public library will be relocating to the Bell Works complex, and it will be in its new location before the year is over.

The Holmdel library branch, part of the Monmouth County library system, is currently squeezed into the basement of the Township building. Holmdel has long planned to move its library into the former Bell Labs site. Construction will begin shortly in the new year and the library is planned to be there by the end of 2017. The move means the size of the library will increase from 2,500 to 17,000 square feet.

Holmdel Mayor Eric Hinds negotiated with Bell Works developer Somerset Development and they are contributing $1 million to the construction of the new library. Total construction costs will be between $1.5 and $1.6 million, and Holmdel Township will cover the rest.

“It’s really important to us,” Mayor Hinds told the Two River Times. “It’s a home run for the town.”

Holmdel residents can learn more about the new library at a meeting January 12 at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be at Bell Works.

Bell Works is the former Bell Labs complex, the 2-million-square-foot building — the length of three football fields — that once housed Bell Labs, AT&T and Alcatel Lucent.

Last year, the state Economic Development Authority awarded major tax credits to two companies to relocate there: WorkWave, with 400+ employees, and iCIMS, Inc., a software services company based in Matawan. Jersey Central Power and Light has also announced plans to relocate its headquarters from Red Bank to Bell Works next summer, according to the Two River Times. Toll Brothers is planning 225 units of luxury housing on the property as well, the Two River Times reported. At least five other smaller companies have already signed leases at Bell Works, most of them technology companies.

Related Patch coverage on Bell Works:

Bell Works Gets First Major Tenant

$42 Million in New Tax Breaks Given to Entice Companies to Bell Works