New Kensington Library to Open This Spring

If you've been on 18th Avenue recently, it's impossible to miss the amount of work that's already complete on the new Kensington Branch Library. The groundbreaking ceremony took place just about two years ago, so we checked in to see how long before we'll be enjoying the first "green" library in Brooklyn, and we're told that, barring any unforeseen hurdles, it will open in the spring of 2012.



"We're approaching the home stretch of the construction," Matthew Monahan, spokesman for the Department of Design and Construction, told us. The Department of Design and Construction is managing the project, and Monahan said the projected substantial completion date is January 2012--again, barring the unexpected.

But "substantial completion" is only another beginning, really. Once the building is done, there is still a lot to do before people can start checking books out.

"Even though the substantial completion is projected for January, we still have to finish up the small details in the building, as well as get the books and computers in," Jason Carey, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Brooklyn Public Library, told us. In general, he said, that takes about eight weeks.

The current Kensington Library building on Ditmas Ave, which had been a social hall called the Manor before the library moved into it in 1960, is leased, so the library will simply end its lease there once the new building is complete.



One concern for the new library is its location. It's in a more convenient spot, spread out a little more equally from other libraries in the area, but 18th Avenue is a traffic nightmare. The shot above of the street was taken during the middle of the morning when traffic is lighter, specifically so I could annotate the image.

At rush hour and when school lets out, cars and trucks are double parked for seemingly the entire stretch, and traffic gets backed up at every stoplight. And one of the closest intersections to the library is East 3rd Street, which doesn't have a stoplight. 18th Avenue is a dangerous street now--will the library bring increased car and pedestrian traffic? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

We'll let you know when we hear the exact opening date. Additionally, you can keep up with what's going on at the Brooklyn Public Library at their Facebook page and at Twitter.