ENVISIONING CITY’S NEW DOWNTOWN LIBRARY
Board weighs partnerships in $39M plan for central branch
The new central branch of the Windsor Public Library will cost $38.7 million, be three-quarters the size of the current building and be located in the heart of the downtown, according to a plan endorsed Tuesday by the city ’s library board. The long-envisioned project still needs to be green-lighted by city council because the City of Windsor would pay the vast majority of the bill, said Mayor Drew Dilkens, who chairs the library board and sees the project as a rare opportunity.
“You don’t get to build a main library that often,” he said, suggesting it could be used as a catalyst to drive other projects in the downtown. The actual cost, he said, will be closer to $45 million when land acquisition is factored in.
Still undetermined is the location, the design and whether it will be built as an iconic standalone building, a redeveloped heritage property or part of a larger development. That could mean partnering with the college or university, which have established downtown campuses, or with a private developer.
“As a standalone location, they look very grandiose and are wonderful destinations,” but there’s no reason a library combined with another use couldn’t be iconic, the mayor said. He said he hasn’t been approached by a developer with a plan of what to do with the library, nor has he approached developers about a partnership.
“But I do know a project like this, it could be leveraged to create something that is larger than the library itself.”
After the library board meeting, Dilkens cited earlier talks with St. Clair College to partner on a shared library/classroom project. That dissolved when St. Clair, faced with an influx of 1,000 more students downtown, quickly rented out space at One Riverside Drive. But that lease expires in five years, Dilkens noted, giving the city and college time to work out a combined project. The new library is supposed to be built by 2026.
“I really think there’s an opportunity here that could be great for the library, great for the city and it could be great for the college,” the mayor said.
The search for a location is one of the next steps in the 13-step process to build a new central library. The plan calls for it to be located in the downtown’s cultural hub — an area north of Wyandotte Street, east of Janette Avenue and west of Windsor Avenue. Dilkens said there is little available land within that area. Possibilities include renovating the Paul Martin Building, which was supposed to become the U of W’s law school until $20 million in funding was recently cancelled by the Doug Ford government. However, Dilkens said that building is too big for a stand-alone library. It’s bigger than the current library (101,000 square feet), which has already been deemed too much for a modern library.
The current central branch, at 850 Ouellette Ave., has been sold to the Downtown Mission for $3.6 million, with a plan for the library to move temporarily into the new city hall, until a permanent building is finished.
Other possible locations for a permanent library include the Riverside Drive land owned by London developer Shmuel Farhi. What the board approved on Tuesday was the New Central Library Functional Plan, created after two years of public consultations, studying libraries in other cities and examining what’s needed.
“This is really a road map,” said architect Jason Grassi, who developed the functional plan. “It gets us from where we are today to having a new library.”
He showed very basic plans — called blocking and stacking — for a library with three floors. The first floor had parking and a garden outside, while inside there was a small auditorium, a tech hub, a cafe and a big atrium with lots of natural light. That atrium extended to the second and third floors. The second floor had a children’s area, a terrace, bookshelves and a teen area. The third floor had an adult reading room, bookshelves and a local history area. According to the plan: “The building should be a civic landmark, inspirational and unique, welcoming and comfortable with space for people, resources, programs and services. It should be the community’s living room.” Library CEO Kitty Pope said surveys showed that people want a central library that’s a beacon, an oasis, a blending of the old and new, and where there are places for quiet and noise at the same time. She said new libraries in other cities take into account the changing needs of users. The space needed for physical collections like books is shrinking but the need for meeting spaces and online learning is increasing. The new library needs to be designed so it can serve the community for 50 years, she said. “We don’t want to build a barn, but we don’t want to build something so specialized it can’t be used in a number of different ways,” said Pope, who said that when new libraries have opened in other communities, use has risen dramatically.
“We totally expect usage is going to go right off the charts,” when Windsor’s is opened, she said. By the time the central library moves out of 850 Ouellette Ave., it will be 46 years old.
The cost of building a new library works out to about $540 a square foot, which is close to the $529 cost for the new Halifax library (120,000 square feet on five floors for $63 million in 2015) that Windsor officials have cited as an excellent example of an iconic building. The new $245-million, 240,000-square-foot library in Calgary opened in 2018 at $1,020 per square foot. The square footage costs for recent library projects in Windsor have been $385 for the new Chisholm branch, $483 for the planned expansion at the Budimir branch and $926 to convert a dilapidated former fire hall into the John Muir branch in Sandwich. A library project approved in Guelph, which involves a new library as part of a big downtown development including condos, will cost $636 per square foot. “I’m really interested in the library not being a stand-alone building but part of something bigger,” said board member and Ward 7 Coun. Irek Kusmierczyk. Ward 3 Coun. Rino Bortolin, who also sits on the library board, said the new library can still be an iconic building even if it’s part of something bigger. Whether it’s a stand-alone building, a renovated older building or part of a big tower, the public won’t mind, he said, as long as the services they want are there.