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Library Living

Mixed-use projects are putting library resources, residents and retail in close proximity.

Pajamas will likely be frowned upon, but about this time next year, some residents in St. Paul will be able to roll out of bed and into the library. That's because they'll be living in apartments directly above their local branch library, in a new complex currently being constructed on land where an X-rated movie theater once stood. Apartment dwellers in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle already have the books-with-breakfast option, residing in units above the stacks. Library projects underway in San Francisco and Kansas City also involve similar mixed uses. San Francisco's will include a grocery store, along with 14 apartments. Kansas City is building a nine-story office building along with the Plaza Branch library, with plans to add housing later.

In a different twist, Salt Lake City's new Main Library, which opened in early 2003, has retail shops within it, providing space for a dozen or so businesses that further the library's mission. The idea of combining library and commercial space is being bandied about in several other metropolitan areas. "It's the best of urban renewal," says Gina La Force, director of the St. Paul Public Library. "When you have two groups contributing funds, there are economies of scale allowing us to build a bigger and better library than if we had done this alone."

These mixed-use projects are not always cheaper for government entities, however. In fact, in some cases, the arrangements end up costing more. And the process can drag on longer than if the library were a stand-alone facility, as the private and public sectors negotiate and jump through their different hoops for approvals. "It probably slowed it down," says Rick Crawford, a planner in San Francisco. "We had some design issues and city planning had to work through this. It made it a little more challenging."

Nevertheless, interest in the idea among cities and counties is growing as libraries shed their dusty-shelf and shushing-librarian image and become vibrant educational, cultural and social centers. Supporters of public-private partnerships cite the many benefits to tucking libraries into communities in this way. Business is driven painlessly to the collection from apartment complexes or stores sharing the space next door or above. In the case of housing, the library becomes the heart of an emerging residential community. "We like to take our libraries where the people are," says Carol Brey- Casiano, president of the American Library Association. Surely no bookmobile has ever made it closer to the people than underneath their dwellings. And such close proximity to a library is proving to be an amenity to many renters or condo buyers.

A TRICKY MERGER

In St. Paul, the developer worked with library staff and brought architects and contractors to the table to make sure the two purposes meshed and the facilities were compatible. Because the major street out front is designated for a future light-rail line, it made sense to build denser housing. The final product will be a structural layer cake, with library parking underground, a street-level library and parking above that for the mixed-income housing to be built above it all. The city is using bond money to fund its share and will get a more substantial building than if it built a stand-alone facility. The best part is that officials were having trouble finding a site to place a large enough library for the community, and the partnership solves that.

Multnomah County, Oregon, didn't plan specifically to combine housing with libraries. Rather, the idea there is to build housing with anything and everything. "It's one of the areas of real need," says June Mikkelson, who was the library renovation manager for the most recently constructed facility. The county commission passed a resolution that any new county building must undergo a feasibility study to see if housing, particularly mixed-income housing, could be built along with it.

Three new libraries in the county passed the test. One that opened in 2001 has four market-rate apartments above it. The second, opened in 2002, has market-rate apartments above it and retail next door on half of the ground floor. The library leases its space in each of these cases.

But the third facility--the Hollywood Library and Bookmark Apartments--sits on county land. The library portion was built and paid for with general obligation bonds. A developer bought the air rights above it to erect 47 mixed-income units. The deal was not a money-saving proposition for the county. There were costs associated with the partnership that would not have existed in a stand-alone library project.

Since it was the first building financed and constructed in this way, there were legal issues to wrangle with, including working out a two- party condominium agreement between the library and the developer. In addition, in order to build four stories high, the foundation of the structure had to be stronger than if there were nothing above it. And negotiations for how and what to build extended the planning process beyond the timeframe necessary to build just a library.

Merging such different uses can also create architectural challenges. Seattle seems to have successfully built a housing-library project with a split personality by pulling the pieces together with architectural elements. "We wanted to build a library that had that civic quality that people often look for in libraries, a sense of durability, using masonry," says David Kunselman, capital projects manager. The city had money available from a 1998 bond referendum.

The affordable-housing side, however, had different rules, regulations and expectations. Because there are stringent cost-per- foot limits, for example, the housing portion was built with siding rather than masonry. Before getting underway, the two entities had to find a middle ground for melding the two concepts. The result is housing units set back a little so they're not flush with the library, leaving room for some planters that also help to mark the separation between the public library and private living quarters.

Like Multnomah, Seattle came up with a two-party condo arrangement so that each entity owns its particular share of the building. "We wanted to make sure each organization was getting what it needed, since we were projecting longevity," Kunselman says.

San Francisco has split its project into a three-party condo arrangement, with a grocery store as a separate owner from the library and an apartment developer. Not everyone was happy with the fact that the library portion is being sent upstairs. There's a lobby presence on the ground floor with an elevator and a display but some officials felt the library was given secondary status. Still, it will save the city as much as $10 million to have the developer build the outer shell of the structure. Kansas City is getting a similar shell deal in exchange for the use of its public land.

Some cities have not been able to overcome a challenge more daunting than the legal and architectural arrangements--opposition from citizens who simply aren't able to accept the idea that libraries might share space with private development. In West Palm Beach, a proposal to build six floors of condominiums above a 115,000-square- foot library recently was nixed. "It seems a group of people out there in our community think libraries have to be stand-alone buildings from Andrew Carnegie times, which would be nice except that no one has the money to do that," says Nancy Graham, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority and former mayor.

In Washington, D.C., the two-story Tenleytown library, long overdue for renovation, sits on a highly valuable corner of real estate across from shops and restaurants and near a subway station. Last year, residents said no to the idea of a development above the library. It wasn't so much that they were opposed to a mixed use; rather they were afraid that scheduled renovation of the library might end up being delayed. "It was short-sighted," says Andrew Altman, director of the D.C. Office of Planning. "We could have had a library and housing right at a Metro stop."

Currently, two other D.C. libraries are being considered for mixed use. Altman points out that it's not just about the real estate. Many libraries are underutilized and short on resources. A private partner could bring financial help and make libraries the center of a community. "It's a tool to bring resources to a library system that is severely strained," he says. "If we capture that development and reinvest in the library--what an opportunity."

SHOPPERS AND TOURISTS

Salt Lake City has taken a different tack on its relationship with the commercial sector. Its new library does not include housing but business tenants that support and enhance the library's mission. When designing the new Main Library on a 10-acre block where the old one once stood, the architects included retail space, both inside and outside of the soaring structure. The library retained the right to subjectively choose shops that would provide and support library services; that are not "formula" establishments with required standardized decor or uniforms; or that have a nonprofit or community- based focus.

The result is a ground level "urban" area with little shops, including a deli and a coffee roaster, a garden shop, a film center and a radio station. Now, when people come to a library event straight from work, they can grab a sandwich and a drink before the program begins. Or they can buy a notepad and pen without having to leave the building.

The film center provides films and documentaries to the library. The radio station sometimes broadcasts lecture series and the mayor can walk across the street, from city hall, to be interviewed for programs on community building. The garden shop offers programs with patrons on caring for plants. A bookstore sells the books that are the focus of library events. And a comic book and graphic novels shop emphasizes programs for reluctant readers and literary programs in schools and has brought in speakers and illustrators for library programs, including the illustrator from "The Simpsons." The library on its own couldn't have paid to bring in someone of that stature. But it was able to provide room for the 3,000 people who showed up over four hours.

The financial contribution from the businesses is small since there's only a small proportion of private space that can be leased when a government entity floats a bond to pay for the facility. In this case, it's only 10,000 square feet of the 200,000-square-foot structure. But it goes a ways toward satisfying a city council mandate to get creative about bringing in revenue to support the unrelenting demand for library growth and development. And it enhances the library's mission of bringing people in. "It helps us enliven the space, offers variety and makes it that much more of a destination," says director Nancy Tessman. The library now is the second-most-popular destination in the state, with 3 million visitors last year, many of them tourists.

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