Mid-Manhattan Library To Close For $200M Renovation

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — The New York Public Library will soon close its main circulating branch, the Mid-Manhattan Library, for more than two years while the building undergoes a complete renovation, the NYPL announced Tuesday.

The Mid-Manhattan Library, located on Fifth Avenue between East 39th and 40th streets, will close August 1 for a $200 million project "that will transform the outdated building into a state-of-the-art library with a dramatic, multi-story wall of bookshelves; a full-floor business library; a full floor dedicated to separate libraries for children and teens; the only free public roof terrace in Midtown; and hundreds of additional seats" the NYPL said in a press release.

The branch is expected to be closed until the renovation's completion in early 2020, the NYPL announced. During the construction period, Mid-Manhattan Library staff and services will be relocated to nearby library branches and an interim branch will be opened on the ground floor of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building across the street.

The interim branch, called "Mid-Manhattan Library at 42nd Street," will open on August 29. The delay between the August 1 closing and August 29 opening is necessary "to allow time for Mid-Manhattan’s hundreds of thousands of books, as well as its furniture, to move across the street," the NYPL said in a press release.

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