BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — The Brooklyn Public Library has released a timeline for construction of the new Brooklyn Heights Library, which was sold to developer Hudson Companies in a controversial deal last year.
Work on the new building at 1 Clinton St., designed by Marvel Architects, will begin this fall and is expected to take about three and a half years, according to a flyer released by BPL.
BPL’s Business & Career Library, which shares the Brooklyn Heights Library building, will relocate to the Central Library in June.
The Brooklyn Heights branch will open an interim location at Our Lady of Lebanon Church, at 113 Remsen St., this July before construction begins.
The branch was sold for $52 million to Hudson Companies, which plans on building a 36-story luxury tower at the site, with a smaller library on the ground and cellar floors.
BPL says the deal will allow for $40 million in repairs at other branches throughout Brooklyn.
The City Council’s land use committee approved the proposal in December after Councilman Stephen Levin brokered a last-minute deal with developers following tense closed-door discussions.
At 26,620 square feet, the new library space is larger than what the developer had originally proposed, but smaller than the existing branch.
The current usable space in the library is 32,431 square feet, out of which 27,222 square feet are publicly accessible.
The library deal also allocates space for STEM education labs within the high-rise, adds a new 5,000-square-foot library in the DUMBO/Vinegar Hill area, and promises 114 affordable rental units in Clinton Hill — at 1043 Fulton St. and 907 Atlantic Ave.
The release of BPL’s timeline for the Brooklyn Heights Library was first reported by Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
