Photo by ElvertBarnes

With the final designs and interim locations still up in the air, the Martin Luther King Jr. Library won’t be closing this year for renovations.

At a committee meeting for the Board of Library Trustees, members “further refined the schedule” for the overhaul, according to spokesman George Williams. They plan to close the library sometime in 2017, with a re-opening date scheduled for 2020. They are also still in the midst of securing leases for interim locations, while the system’s flagship facility is under construction.

“This incredibly complex and complicated project has several components. We continue to make progress towards design completion while simultaneously working with a myriad of federal and local regulatory review agencies on approvals,” Kim Zablud, DCPL’s assistant director of public services told staffers in an email. “We expect it to close sometime next year.”

The future of the Mies van der Rohe building has been hotly debated over the past few years, with initial plans for possible office or residential space above the building eventually getting nixed. DCPL released a set of renderings last year from architects Martinez + Johnson and Mecanoo that show just a single extra floor, a ground-level cafe, performance space, and rooftop gardens, among other new additions.