Sunset Park Courthouse May House Books While Local Library Is Demolished

Pictured: Sunset Park's former courthouse on 4th Avenue. Image via Google Maps

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — Beginning next year, the Sunset Park Library could temporarily relocate its books and services to an old courthouse located about 10 blocks away, while the current library is demolished and rebuilt.

David Woloch, executive vice president of the greater Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) system, presented the relocation plan at a public meeting Monday night, as first reported by the Brooklyn Daily.

A library spokeswoman confirmed the details of the report to Patch on Tuesday.

For more than a year, plans have been in place to replace the library's 5108 4th Ave. building with an affordable housing development that would include a new — and considerably larger — library.

The plan has faced protests from groups like Village of Sunset Park and Citizens Defending Libraries, who are worried about where local children will study during the estimated two-year period needed for construction.

Protesters are also skeptical that the new building's "affordable" rents will be realistic for longtime Sunset Parkers.

Supporters of the plan, on the other hand, say integrating the library into a housing development will allow it to expand and add more modern amenities — a goal they say is impossible to reach under the confines of the BPL's current budget.

During construction, BPL officials have proposed that an interim library be set up at the former courthouse located at 4201 4th Ave.

The temporary facility at 4th and 42nd will take up 5,000 square feet — less than half the library's current 12,000-square-foot floor plan.

However, the library could negotiate with the NYPD, which also uses the building, for extra space, according to Jeremy Laufer, the district manager of Community Board 7 (yet another tenant at the property).

The temporary library will continue to offer programming like adult literacy classes, GED tutoring, immigration assistance and laptop loans, according to a BPL spokeswoman. Part of the library's book collection will also be moved.

“Obviously there will be fewer shelves, but we’ll be able to have a decent-sized collection,” Woloch told the Brooklyn Daily.

Woloch promised the BPL would "provide the community with basic library service" during the transition.

The Sunset Park Library is the sixth busiest branch in Brooklyn's system, according to Laufer.

The city's permitting process for the redevelopment project will begin this spring, a BPL spokesperson told Patch.

And if the plan to tear down and rebuild the library goes through, construction would reportedly begin in the spring of 2017, lead by the nonprofit Fifth Avenue Committee, which will purchase the property.

The planned affordable building would offer 50 units of housing for low and moderate-income individuals and households.

Rents would range from $480 per month for a studio to $1,185 for a three-bedroom unit, according to the Fifth Avenue Committee.