Court Square Library Sets Closing Date With No Deal For New Home

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — The Court Square public library branch will close Feb. 15 with no set plans for a replacement, save for a once-a-week mobile library parked outside the courthouse.

During a public meeting Thursday on the library's fate, Queens Public Library CEO Dennis Walcott said he can't commit to having a deal in place for the library's new home by its closing date next month, but he said his team has found two possibilities.

Walcott declined to share more details on the record about the spots the library is considering, but he did say that one of the two spots is under construction and could be turned over to the library as early as June.

"We are not going to settle for a substandard space for expediency," Walcott told meeting attendees, including City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer and members of the advocacy group Friends of Court Square Library.

"We are very serious about pursuing this," he added.

The small but beloved Court Square library has called Long Island City's Citigroup Tower home for just over 30 years, paying a yearly rent of just one dollar. The library's sublease with Citigroup expired on Aug. 31, but officials succeeded in negotiating an extension of almost a year.

At that point, Citigroup is vacating its space in the tower, owned by a real estate firm called Savanna. The space had been slated for Amazon, but the online retail giant bailed on its lease, THE CITY reported.

Now, Savanna is planning to turn the tower into the "TimeWarner Center of Long Island City," Walcott said, adding that the library couldn't reach an agreement with the real estate company for it to stay in the building.

Eric Waters, a vice president at Savanna, told THE CITY the company tried to offer the library alternative locations in the neighborhood.

While the Queens Public Library hammers out a deal for a new, long-term home, its Mobile Library will park outside the Long Island City courthouse on Mondays, officials said.

Blunt rhetoric this morning from Friends of Court Square Library’s President Meghan Cirrito, who says her group’s efforts to communicate with @QPLNYC about the library’s fate were “met with complete indifference.”

The group is meeting with QPL leaders and @JimmyVanBramer. pic.twitter.com/OCzgKZw8L4
— Maya Kaufman (@mayakauf) January 9, 2020