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Brooklyn

Brooklyn Public Library CEO Linda Johnson says downsized Brooklyn Heights branch will silence critics

Opponents have vehemently objected to Brooklyn Public Library's plan to sell its Cadman Plaza West site to a private developer, who would build an apartment tower that would include a new library. The site could be worth $100 million or more, however, and proceeds are sorely needed by cash-strapped BPL.

A plan to shrink the Brooklyn Heights Library has ignited fierce opposition — but the new branch that will be built in its place will be so much better than what's there now, it will win over the critics, a top library official predicted.

Brooklyn Public Library CEO Linda Johnson is promising a light-filled facility full of patron-pleasing technology to answer opponents who object to BPL's plan to construct a 15,000-square-foot branch at the Cadman Plaza West site — which is about half the size of the space patrons currently use.

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The smaller branch is part of a plan announced last month to sell the city-owned building to a private developer who will tear down the 50-year-old facility and construct an apartment tower with a library branch inside it.

"We're offering 15,000 square feet that's better appointed and more conducive to the kind of learning we're doing today," Johnson said in a sit-down Monday with the Daily News.

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"So we hope people's objections are going to disappear when they have a better experience" in the new library.

Nearly 8,000 opponents have signed petitions that object to the public library's fate being put into the hands of a private developer.

"I don't believe a new facility will be adequate," said Marjorie Horowitz, who collected 264 petition signatures in the Cadman Towers apartment complex near the library.

But when the new library is built the city — not the developer — will probably wind up owning the space in which the library is located. And BPL will be in charge of what goes on inside it.

"We will control every square centimeter of our library," Johnson said.

The sale of the prime property near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge is expected to raise mega-millions for BPL, which has a tight budget and faces $230 million in unmade repairs throughout its 60-library system.

"You don't see a property like this come on the market that often; demand will be strong," said one real estate broker, estimating that the property could fetch $100 million or more on the market.

The new branch would be built in about four years, pending City Council approval and a public bidding process to sell the property.

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So it's too soon to decide how many computers to install for patrons' use.

"Maybe desktops aren't what we are going to need in three to four years' time," Johnson said.

Currently there are six computers for kids and 26 computers for adults in the combined 27,000-square-foot, second-floor branch and first-floor Business and Career Library — which most patrons use for non-business purposes like it's part of the neighborhood branch.

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The business library is being moved to the Central Library at Grand Army Plaza.

The new Heights library will be an open space with few walls, Johnson said, describing "space that's flexible to accommodate new technology we don't even know about."

It will have space for community gatherings, spots where patrons can work together — and room for the branch's book, DVD and film collections.

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Serving neighborhood kids and seniors will be a top priority for the new branch, said Johnson — who targeted the Heights library for sale because of its "significant value" on the real estate market and its need of $9 million in repairs, including $3.5 million for new air conditioning.

The building, constructed in 1962, was last renovated 20 years ago.

After it's sold, a temporary branch will be opened in a nearby storefront or another vacant location, Johnson said.

lcroghan@nydailynews.com


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