After Pandemic Delay, City Back To Work On New Rego Park Library

REGO PARK, QUEENS — Plans for a new library branch in Rego Park were already decades in the making before the coronavirus arrived. City officials blamed the pandemic for yet another delay.

Now, work has finally resumed on the project, according to the New York City Department of Design and Construction — but the details are still a closed book.

The new library, which will replace the existing branch at 91-41 63 Drive, had been scheduled to be done by 2024, although officials acknowledged last year that would likely change.

But the project is still "early" in its design phase, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2022, a Department of Design and Construction spokesperson told Patch.

Design work resumed in January, after an eight-month delay that the spokesperson, Shoshana Khan, attributed to the pandemic; the architect is now preparing a new schedule.

During a budget hearing Monday with the borough president's office, Queens Community Board 6 District Manager Frank Gulluscio named the project as the district's top priority.

"CB6 has been waiting since 1993 — 1993! — to secure this funding, and to wait until 2024 to see this library built is totally ridiculous,” Gulluscio said during the hearing Monday. “It’s unbelievable."

City Council Member Karen Koslowitz started pushing for a new, larger library in the 1990s that would better accommodate the growing community and be fully accessible.

The project was fully funded in 2017, to the tune of $32 million. Another million has since been devoted to contingency costs, Gulluscio said — a common practice in construction.

Plans call for a multi-story library at least double the size of the old branch, according to the Department of Design and Construction. The mayor has promised an annex that would provide library space during construction.

Officials committed to breaking ground on the project before Koslowitz leaves office at the end of this year, a milestone that now seems unlikely. Koslowitz's office did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

During Monday's budget hearing, Gulluscio bemoaned the delays, noting that the community has yet to see any drawings.

City Council Member Adrienne Adams, a former Queens Public Library trustee, said the timeline "baffled" her. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards pledged to get the project done.

Meanwhile, plans for new libraries in Astoria and Richmond Hill are moving forward. Gulluscio said that only adds to his frustration.

"What in the world's going on?" Gulluscio told Patch in an interview. "Goodness gracious, show me a rendering at least!"