The staff of the downtown Fort Worth Public Library is making plans to vacate the premises as the city prepares to close on an $18 million sale of the property to Dart Industries.
Dart will take a wrecking ball to the Central Library, this one built in in 1978 and renovated over the years. Dart plans to redevelop the property at Taylor and Third.
The final day the library will be open is June 30, according to an Informal Report to City Council members presented Tuesday.
Where library services will be relocated has yet to be determined because the city has not yet identified a transaction palpable to the buyer and seller. That coming lapse in service is a source of concern for Councilwoman Elizabeth Beck. The library is in her District 9, but, of course, users of the library come from all over the city.
Steve Cooke, the city’s director of property management, assured Beck and her colleagues that the city is “actively working” on a new location.
“Right this second, we have not found anything,” Cooke said to the council. “We have to have a willing buyer and a willing seller.”
Cooke said the city has looked at everything from 12,000 square feet to 200 square feet, including properties downtown and just outside downtown. Staff has even looked at leasing space, and actually is working on another lease option.
One possibility is a library in the redeveloped (current) City Hall. City Hall is relocating to the former Pier 1 building, a stone’s throw west of downtown.
“We’ve looked at multiple areas,” Cooke said. “We’ve made offers that weren’t accepted.”
The task of moving out of the library will be quite the job. About 100,000 items will need to be removed, according to Marilyn Marvin, the interim director of the Fort Worth Public Library. Discarded books and other material will be given to a local charity. Furniture will be moved to a variety of locations, and city-owned artwork will go to various city locations, including the future City Hall.
Bumpersaurus, an art piece in the Central Library, will be moved to the new Vivian J. Lincoln Library in far south Fort Worth, which has an opening date scheduled for July 8.
The back-office library staff, book storage, and distribution functions will relocate to the new service center at 8604 Camp Bowie West Blvd.
Meanwhile, Saturday marks another date in the closing process. It’s the last day of public programming and school field trips, and it’s the last day of passport operations.