MAIN LIBRARY WILL REOPEN

After a 16-month closure, the central downtown branch will open for limited hours.

Sixteen months after Denver Public Library officials closed and locked the doors to the central downtown branch, the building will reopen Sunday with a few improvements.

But patrons shouldn’t expect the flagship library to return immediately to its former glory, because the construction won’t be done for another two or so years, Central Library Administrator Rachel Fewell said. Plus the branch will be open only from 1-5 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays.

“It might be hard for people who used to use the Central Library and are expecting to go right up to the fourth floor to use their favorite computer,” Fewell told The Denver Post. “It’s not going to be like that; it’s going to be limited.”

Fewell beamed with pride Friday as she walked through the branch with several colleagues, tallying off finished improvements and anticipating others in the works.

When the branch opens Sunday, patrons will have access to a community connections space where they can find career and housing services, interim Central operations manager Megan Hartline said.

Otherwise, patrons can use computers to search the library’s collection and request materials to borrow from staff members. The branch’s information services, card services, a community technology center (with more than 30 computers) and special collections and reference section also will be open, she said.

Each of the library’s 26 branches closed March 15, 2020, as the pandemic gained speed.

Nine of those branches reopened in March with limited hours and safety precautions. And in the months since, the others, except for the central branch, followed.

The work at the Central Library — including restroom upgrades and a first-floor renovation — are part of a long-standing plan funded by the Elevate Denver bond package that voters passed in 2017. Millions more were raised by the Denver Public Library Friends Foundation.

In all, the central branch renovation is expected to cost about $50 million.

Temporary walls separate much of the library’s open space from areas still under construction, although Hartline and Fewell said they can’t wait to reopen the branch even with the work in the background.

The next things to get a makeover include the children’s section, programming space and all six elevators.

That work isn’t expected to be finished until 2023.

Photos by Eric Lutzens, The Denver Post A pod with three computers sits ready to go in the computer area during a tour of the Denver Central Library on Friday. The library will open to the public on a limited basis on Sunday, but renovations will continue for about two more years.

A painter continues work in the new remodeled restroom area, which features a hand washing area.