Turn the page: Broward Main Library’s back
Nine years of construction come to an end for flagship of system
Chapter One: Hurricane Wilma hits Broward County in 2005, leaving the county’s flagship library a broken, soaked mess.
Chapter Two: Construction workers crowd into and onto the eight-story giant, determined to restore the Grand Old Dame to the architectural majesty that drew national acclaim.
Chapter Three: More of what happened in Chapter Two.
Chapters Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine: Very similar to Chapter Three.
On Saturday, the cover closes on the Main Library’s nine-year saga — a work of nonfiction, with lots of drama.
Library users, accustomed to a more genteel environment, over the past nine years tiptoed around construction barriers, puddles of water, dust and debris, a closed escalator, defunct pools and fountains and shuttered entrances. They inhaled wet stenches of mold and noxious fumes
from paint, listened to grinding and welding, and were exposed to construction dangers, county records show. A restaurant in the library went out of business, blaming the construction project that seemingly wouldn’t end. A construction company also went out of business, leaving the county in the lurch. That story’s over now. The official renaissance of the Main Library, in downtown Fort Lauderdale just south of Broward Boulevard at Andrews Avenue, was celebrated Saturday. Every public floor was open, with library staff showing off their renovated digs. The library system also is offering amnesty for library fines through Friday.
“We’re back,’’ said an excited Debbie Llenza, assistant regional manager. “We’re back with a vengeance.’’
The gigantic building’s windows are now hurricane resistant, thanks to a threeyear, $10 million project partially funded by the federal government. Lighting in the library is now energy efficient, a new-carpet smell pervades the air, and wall and ceiling tiles were replaced. Pools are filled, fountains are burbling, healthy plants are thriving. And people are returning. “We have noticed a lot more people coming in,’’ said Jeff Tottenhoff, libraries business administrator. “We’ve got young people, which is fantastic.’’
Once Broward’s most popular library, attendance declined year after year during construction, county re- cords show. Recessionary budget cuts further pinched library attendance, when hours were slashed and the Main Library was closed on weekends.
Attendance last year was 291,000 — a little more than half the 546,000 that visited in 2007-08.
The library hours still haven’t returned to their prerecessionary days, Director Skye Patrick said.
Crowds gather outside the doors on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when the library isn’t open until noon. But officials were proud to reopen it on Saturdays using existing funding.
“I am happy to say we have had six-day service here since August,’’ Patrick said in an email.
The library building itself is considered a work of art by architectural gurus.
Opened in 1984, its design — three sides of keystone, or coral rock, and one facade of cascading, sparkling glass — was likened to a crackedopen geode by its creator. Architect Robert Gatje, who was with the firm of Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer, called the building his proudest accomplishment.
In January, the Main Library was named a historic landmark by the city of Fort Lauderdale. bwallman@tribpub.com or 954-356-4541