Local News

South End likely to remain without a library branch until 2027

Boston Public Library and a design firm presented a proposed design for a new, two-story building on Tremont Street to replace the current library.

The South End branch of the Boston Public Library. Courtesy Photo

June 27, 2024

Since the South End branch of the Boston Public Library closed more than two years ago, thousands of Bostonians have been without a neighborhood library and the resources that come with one.

“That is an enormous hole in the polity of the South End,” one resident said at a public meeting earlier this month.

The South End branch originally closed in April of 2022 after a flood destroyed all the mechanical equipment in the basement, the library said. A second major flood damaged the building further. Since then, the nearly 50,000 people served by the library branch have instead been directed to the Central or Roxbury branches.

At the June meeting, BPL President David Leonard and Boston-based design firm Utile presented plans to build a new library at the South End branch’s original location on Tremont Street by 2027. Utile said they chose the preliminary design by taking community feedback from two previous public meetings into account.

With a feasibility study completed and a budget of about $30 million approved, Utile said the most likely design will be a two-story building with a slightly larger footprint than the current building, keeping the adjacent library park.

The proposed library would have first-floor children space and community space meant to hold 100 people. An adult and teen area would be on the second floor with additional study rooms.

Due to increased flooding in Boston and the neighborhood, the new building won’t have a basement and will be built about 30 inches off the ground to avoid future floods. The new library will also be about 40 percent larger than the current building.

Leonard and Utile presented a detailed floor plan, but Leonard said at the meeting that the design is not final, and the architects will take community feedback from additional meetings this year into consideration. There are two additional community meetings about the design planned for later this year.

A spokesperson for the library said construction should begin in mid- to late 2025 and could take a year and a half or two years to complete.

“We want to continue the opportunities for collaboration and dialogue as this moves forward,” Leonard said at the meeting. “Our goals continue to be to use the accelerated process the city has committed to so we can get as fast as reasonably possible back to a functioning branch.”