D.C. Mayor Williams officially introduced legislation Tuesday to approve the financing of a new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Dubbed the Library Transformation Act of 2006, the Mayor’s plan calls for a new “State-of-the-Art Central Library” to be located at the nearby site of the old convention center. The new Library would act as an anchor for a larger development plan that would include “new office, retail and housing” space around the site. The stand-alone measure will allow the D.C. Council to debate the $180 million plan, which was previously tucked inside the 2006 Budget Support Act.
The plan was submitted after a marathon, 5-hour public meeting held April 22 at which the Mayor solicited opinions from residents. While there seemed to be no trouble reaching a consensus that, in its current state, the building, designed by famed modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, will be inadequate to meet the future needs of a central library, questions remained about what would be done with the landmark under the Mayor’s plan. Williams has previously proposed leasing the building out to a private entity, but with no such entity already in place, it seems unlikely it will be easy to find a renter for a space with as many problems (insufficient heating/cooling, out of date mechanical and electrical systems, etc.) as the current MLK Library. No mention was made of a plan for the older building’s fate by the Mayor on Tuesday.
Another interesting section from the Mayor’s press release:
“I continue to believe that it is not enough to try to renovate the 900 G Street, NW, location for the central library. In short, I think it will be just as expensive to do a renovation of the central library but without the added benefits of creating unique public space in the center of downtown, attracting residents as new patrons, and enticing visitors and scholars alike.”
As far as we understand, no study of the actual cost of renovating the Mies-designed building has been conducted to date, but the Mayor seems awfully convinced he is right. What do you think?
