Cities across the United States need additional housing to support their growing populations and address increasing housing costs. Aging libraries could provide a solution.
Since 2000, more than 1,800 apartments—many of them affordable units—have been built in complexes that combine new housing with new libraries. These projects can both address a communities’ housing needs and improve local infrastructure by replacing aging library complexes with modern facilities that better serve residents. And they create a greater diversity of neighborhood uses, adding to community vitality.
These complexes are one way cities can leverage publicly owned land for the public benefit. But communities will have to choose what to prioritize: They could take advantage of combined complexes to cover the costs of the new library or to enable additional affordable housing, but they are unlikely to achieve both aims without additional subsidies.
An opportunity to improve public services and create new housing on publicly owned land
Public libraries are an essential resource, offering access to learning materials and opportunities for improved social well-being.
But library funding is inadequate. A recent American Library Association report estimates a national investment of $32 billion (PDF) would be needed to renovate or rebuild libraries to meet today’s expectations. In addition, the Trump administration has attempted to eliminate the US Institute of Museum and Library Services, a key source of funding for libraries in every state.
Yet libraries often have an underleveraged resource they could use to fund improvements: the land they sit on, which is usually publicly owned. They are also typically located near neighborhood centers—a potential draw for future apartment dwellers.
As such, aging libraries are an opportunity for cities to take advantage of “free” land and work with developers to rebuild libraries with new housing on top. When feasible, projects can also incorporate other building uses, such as day care centers and coffee shops, to help finance construction and improve neighborhood vibrancy.
How widespread are combined library-housing developments and how are they financed?
Combining libraries with housing development has become increasingly common. In my analysis, I found that since 2000, at least 23 projects have been completed in the US, creating a total of 1,848 apartments. The majority of these projects were completed in the past decade. Seven such projects are now under construction, encompassing 597 new housing units. Two projects have been completed in Canada, with another now under construction. (Other library projects, such as Salt Lake City’s Marmalade Branch, are integrated into neighborhood-scale development plans, but aren’t specifically integrated into apartment buildings.)
Most projects involved new construction, but some renovated an existing building, such as St. Paul, Minnesota’s Rondo Community Outreach Library. The projects also range in size, from the 3-story Cornelius, Oregon, project to the 11-story Cleveland, Ohio, Martin Luther King, Jr. Library and Library Lofts to the 36-story Brooklyn Heights Public Library and One Clinton apartments in New York City.
Combined library-housing projects are financed using a variety of mechanisms with different underlying goals. In some cases, situating apartment projects on library land can help cover the cost of the new library. In others, the free land makes financing affordable housing projects more feasible. But few projects can do both at the same time without additional public subsidies.
In Manhattan, the New York Public Library sold the site of its 53rd Street Library, which opened in 1955, to a developer for $67.4 million. The developer demolished the library and constructed a 50-story market-rate apartment and hotel tower with a shell space for a library in its base, which the library system then built out for $23 million. The library system thus netted more than $40 million and got a new library; the city gained a hotel and 60 housing units.
In Washington, DC’s West End, the city leased a publicly owned parcel with a library to a private developer. The developer demolished the library (which opened in 1967) and built a 10-story structure on the site, encompassing 164 market-rate apartments and two restaurants. It also constructed a new library at its base at no charge to the city.
In Chicago, the public library system worked with the local housing authority to cocreate a structure on the site of a demolished public housing complex in Little Italy. The resulting seven-story building includes a library, 37 public housing units, 29 affordable units financed through the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, and 7 market-rate units. The publicly owned site reduced the development costs of the library and the apartments because the land was free.
Which communities might be a good fit for combined library-housing developments?
Combined library and apartment projects aren’t feasible everywhere because they require adequate local demand for new housing investment to justify the construction of apartment buildings.
I find that these developments are located in neighborhoods with higher average population densities. Additionally, these projects involve libraries that are typically larger than average, likely because they serve larger populations.
According to my analysis, there are about 400 public libraries nationwide in neighborhoods with population densities at least as high as the median of existing combined library-housing developments. These libraries are distributed across 56 counties and 23 states, with the highest number in New York City, Los Angeles County, Cook County (Chicago), Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
For example, the following aging libraries could be good candidates for combined library–apartment complexes:
- Jersey City, New Jersey’s Five Corners Branch Library: built in 1962 and located in the densely populated, booming Journal Square neighborhood, which has easy access to Manhattan via rapid transit
- Las Vegas’s Spring Valley Library: built in 1988 and located in a neighborhood with 17,000 residents per square mile
- Philadelphia’s Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library, built in 1976, located a neighborhood with 26,000 residents per square mile and close to a transit station
Libraries are not the only public structures that could be combined with new housing. In Atlanta, the city and a developer plan to incorporate a new fire station into a tower with 282 apartments. In Manhattan, a new condominium tower includes a school at its base.
Cities interested in combining public facilities with new housing should be cognizant of the compromises at play. New development on public land can help cover the costs of a public facility or help reduce the subsidies needed for affordable housing, but it is unlikely to provide enough leverage to fund both simultaneously without additional subsidies. Moreover, building new public facilities only addresses infrastructure needs; in many cases, public services also face challenges covering their operations costs, such as for staffing, that require another source of funds.
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