Library’s renovation 5 years in the making
The celebration Saturday at the Kendall Neighborhood Library and Community Center marked the final chapter in a yearslong process to repair six city library branches closed after Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston in 2017.
The west Houston facility took on 4 feet of water from Buffalo Bayou and Turkey Creek, which remained for several weeks in the building that partly lacked power and air conditioning, officials said. The two upper floors sustained damage from rain that soaked through the roof and several broken windows.
The library renovation took much longer than anticipated with the original reopening estimated in 2019.
“The significance of the
brary is huge. Kendall, before it closed, was one of the highest circulated libraries and one of our busiest libraries in the system,” said Rhea Brown Lawson, executive director of the Houston Public Library. “And for it to be down for five years was really unfortunate ... However, today is a good day.”
Part of the cost was paid by $1.7 million in federal funding the city received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“Construction was $4.7 million, which included the complete renovation of the first floor, including the roof and the new flood wall,” said Stephen Chamberlain, senior project manager for the city. “FEMA gave us the money to basically do the reconstruction plus a mitigation project, which is the actual flood wall.”
But working with FEMA meant the process was delayed, officials said.
“The enormity of Harvey damage across the region caused huge processing issues with FEMA. No one is prepared for that kind of processing,” John Middleton, assistant director of Houston Public Library Spaces, said when asked about the delays. “The flood wall was another design and engineering addition that we made that prolonged the process, but we thought it was worth it. So all of that took more time than any one of us imagined.”
Attendees Saturday were able to walk through the newly renovated building and see a much-improved facility.
“This library has been a vital piece of the neighborhood here for years, so when it came time for reconstruction, we knew that we would not simply have to replace the whole building; instead, we would make further enhancements that would improve the facility for everyone to come and use,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said.