‘The city has stepped up in a very big way for us’
It was the worst-kept secret of the summer: Calgary’s central library will be heading for a new home in the East Village across from city hall on Third Street S.E.
City council officially approved the move on Tuesday — a day after the city’s communications department prematurely issued a press release announcing the new location.
Council has promised $175 million for the new library which will cost $225 million to $350 million. The higher price tag would include a cultural component of a museum theatre and galleries.
“That would require the province to come in in a significant way” says Gerry Meek CEO for the Calgary Public Library. “I think they were waiting to see if the city would step up and the city has stepped up in a very big way for us.”
The East Village location beat out four other options and will ultimately replace the 50-year-old W.R. Castell branch which needs more than $50 million in repairs and upgrades.
Meek says groundbreaking for the new library could begin in 2012 marking the library’s 100-year anniversary to be finished by 2015.
