Renderings for the new Grand Concourse Library in the Bronx.
Photo: Secchi Smith
The 65-year-old Grand Concourse Library in the Bronx is about to be replaced. First renderings of the new public library show a brick-lattice façade on the first two floors and a double-height reading space that looks airy and bright. But perhaps the most unusual feature of the library is not what’s inside but what’s on top of the stacks: 113 affordable, rent-stabilized units. The project is part of HPD’s Living Libraries program within the City of Yes for Families initiative, which aims to make better use of city-owned lots by combining library renovations with new affordable housing. It joins four others — the Inwood and Sunset Park libraries, which are done, and the New Utrecht library in Bensonhurst and the Bloomingdale Library in the Upper West Side that are just beginning the redevelopment process. The concept isn’t unique to New York — there are examples in Chicago and Boston — but it finally seems to be picking up steam here.
Photo: Secchi Smith
Photo: Secchi Smith
Photo: Secchi Smith
As a ground-up new construction, the Grand Concourse library will benefit from new technology; it will be the NYPL’s first Passive House–certified library. Plus, there’s good news for fans of the Lorrie Goulet sculpture on the façade of the current library — it will be preserved and installed above the new entryway. The project will be developed by nonprofit organization Settlement Housing Fund and Kalel Companies, a real-estate firm that specializes in affordable housing. The two architectural firms behind the new design are Bernheimer, which is responsible for the overall building, and Levenbetts, which also designed the new East Flatbush Library and the interim Brooklyn Heights library and is in the process of redesigning the Red Hook Library, the Borough Park Library, and the Baisley Park Library. Andrew Bernheimer, principal of Bernheimer Architects, said that in response to community requests, they also worked to “slim the bulk” of the building. Besides the shading provided by the brick latticework on the façade, David Leven, principal of Levenbetts, said that they also added solar screening to the façade to reduce energy usage and focused on bringing natural light into the building.
As for the housing portion of the building, it will be 100 percent affordable, with at least 15 percent of the apartments reserved for the formerly homeless and the rest distributed through the city’s housing-lottery program. The building will include a teaching kitchen, three outdoor terraces, a gym, laundry, and bike storage.
Even with more than a hundred new units coming online, it can feel like the project will just scratch the surface of what the city needs. When the new Inwood Library, designed by architect Andrew Berman, opened last year, the 174 affordable units that went into the lottery got 80,000 applications. Still, the Grand Concourse project was only announced this year and seems to be moving a little more speedily than its Inwood or Sunset Park counterparts. The NYPL says it will secure a temporary library space before it begins construction.