Fulton County commissioners agreed Wednesday that building a new central library downtown is unfeasible, the next step in a process that will allow the renovation of the main Atlanta branch.
They voted to move forward with library bonds that will pay for the renovations, which are expected to cost between $40 million and $55 million.
"I think we're making the right decision here for the future of this library," Fulton County Vice Chairman Liz Hausmann said. "I'm excited we got to save it."
The future of the existing Central Library has been in question since Fulton voters in 2008 approved $275 million in bonds to renovate branches and build new ones, including a new main branch downtown.
The concrete building, which opened in 1980, is too big for existing library needs and has fallen into disrepair.
But the plans for a new central library included expected private donations, which dried up during the recession. And architects and others rallied to show their support for the existing branch, an iconic building that was the last designed by the famed architect Marcel Breuer. Breuer, who invented tubular steel furniture, also designed the brutalist Whitney Museum in New York.
As part of the renovation plan, commissioners plan to fix up five or six of the library’s nine floors. They would lease the rest to arts or community organizations, though it is too soon to know what would occupy the remaining floors.
Gabriel Morley, director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library System, said he expects a designer to go through the building to help determine what floors the library should occupy and how they should be laid out. Central Library is already getting a new roof, he said, and needs electrical work and improvements to the heating and cooling systems. It also needs upgraded technology, new furniture and self-checkout machines.
The goal, he said, is to design the library so that it is no longer underutilized.
“We want to do things that ensure that the library is used to its full capacity,” he said. “Right now, it’s not a secret that it’s not being used to our potential.”
Central Library would likely have more technology, including computer labs, Morley said. The renovations could allow it to be more energy efficient. The space would have more programming.
“We would like for that to be the pinnacle of the system,” Morley said of Central Library. “We want people to come back.”
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