Anchors for mixed-use developments tend to be modern equivalents of general stores. However, a new anchor gaining prominence demonstrates just how much city dwellers’ needs have changed. It also shows how a little ingenuity and cross-department collaboration can result in a yield greater than its parts.
Instead of clothing stores or groceries, libraries are positioning themselves as community destinations and anchors for large developments. Increasingly, public libraries fill a niche for co-working, education, entertainment and access to social support services. Plus, they still lend books.
Libraries are being redesigned to encourage longer stays and group participation, with new layouts and light-filled rooms meant to encourage lingering. Above some of them, affordable apartments are rising. The setup provides a steady stream of potential clients and saves the government the trouble of finding an additional site for public housing.
D.C. will host the latest example
Washington, D.C., is the latest municipality to embrace the model. This week, government officials announced that Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures and Nix Development have been chosen to develop the Deanwood Metro station complex, set to break ground in 2028. The architect is Cunningham Quill. The general contractor is Bozzuto Construction
Deanwood Metro station will feature a 20,000-square-foot library, making it the development’s centerpiece. Retail, a teen tech center and an outdoor pavilion also play parts, as do 169 apartments. Half will be affordable.
Chicago, NYC did it first
A similar, though less ambitious, project was completed in the fall of 2023 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. At Sunset Park Library and Apartments, affordable apartments were added to an expanded and renovated two-story library. Located near the 53rd Street R subway station, Sunset Park was designed by Carol Loewenson of Mitchell Guirgola Architects.
“The role of libraries is changing in the 21st century, and we hope that our branches can be leaders of their communities,” Brooklyn Public Library spokesperson Fritzi Bodenheimer said at the time.
Chicago leads this type of development in the US. An example is Taylor Street Apartments & Little Italy Branch Library. The housing sits on a 14,000-square-foot library and street-level community room. The building is set back from the street to allow space for street furniture and a community garden.
Neighbors worried it would raise crime rates, but it’s been well-received since opening in 2019. It was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Another Chicago example is the Independence Library and Apartments. Located three blocks from Independence Park, the Independence hosts a two-story library beneath a four-story affordable housing with eye-catching, candy-colored balconies. Like the Little Italy library, this library features glazed walls of windows meant to let in sunlight and coax people to visit. Completed in 2019, it was designed by John Ronan.
Chicago’s Northtown Library and Apartments complex is a little different. The apartments and the library share a lobby to encourage interaction among residents and the public. The library features a learning lab for teens and a community room. Interior Design magazine named the project, which was designed by Ralph Johnson of Perkins&Will, its 2020 Best of Year Winner for Social Impact.
What services do neighborhoods want today?
These developments beg the question: What services and conveniences do communities most crave?
A library isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Fewer people are reading books for pleasure. The number of 13-year-olds who say they regularly read for fun was just 14% in 2023 compared to 27% in 2012, according to the US Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. Will they grow up to be readers? In 2022, 48.5% of American adults said they read at least one book in the previous year, down from 54.6% 10 years prior, according to the National Endowment for the Arts.
The American Library Association is working to reinvent its profession, just as librarians always have. Libraries began as book-lending circles in taverns. In the late 1800s and into the 1920s, they offered education where schools couldn’t. During World War II, libraries fostered discussions about democracy and supported voter registration campaigns. However, its latest reincarnation may be its greatest challenge.
“Creating a community-centered library requires a significant shift in theory and practice, including internal strategy about staffing, policies and priorities. The shift doesn’t happen overnight or by accident. It must be deliberate, be intentional and have dedicated resources to be successful,” wrote librarians Erica Freudenberger and Susan Hildreth in the 2021 ALA book Ask Listen Empower: Grounding your library work in community engagement.
Finding new locations, collaborating with other government agencies, and creating spaces for new purposes are strategies showing progress. They may be worth emulating in other library systems, and instruct on how multi-use complexes can drive footfall going into the second quarter of the 21st century.
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