The next chapter of Fort Worth’s new downtown library began Tuesday, when City Council members voted to spend $5.95 million to buy 1.38 acres off of Summit Avenue.
The city will clear the plot of dilapidated office buildings for a 20,000- to 30,000-square-foot library with parking.
“This site met a variety of desired features including proximity to downtown residents, ease of access, and a site that could accommodate both a structure and parking,” said Dana Burghdoff, Fort Worth assistant city manager.
The purchases approved by council members form a site bounded by Summit Avenue on the west, West 10th Street on the north, Ballinger Street on the east and Texas Street on the south.
City staff expects a two-story building, but that will be determined in the design phase, Burghdoff said. Whether the parking is a garage or surface also will be determined later, she said.
To pay for design and construction, city staff proposed stringing together a number of monetary sources: remaining funds from a previously planned renovation of a downtown building at 512 W. 4th St. for the library; proceeds from a bond sale; reserve funds; and contribution from the Fort Worth Public Library Foundation’s upcoming capital campaign, Burghdoff said.
The city will seek public engagement to get citizen input on the library, including soliciting online feedback, comments through surveys and in-person sessions, Burghdoff said.
“Our property management department is working with our capital funding team on timing” for engagement, bid, design and construction stages, Burghdoff added.
City Council authorized the purchase of these parcels:
- 901 Summit Ave. and 900 Ballinger St. from 901 Summit LLC.
- 915 and 919 Summit Ave. and 906 and 914 Ballinger St. from Patsy Pridgeon Drechsel, trustee of the Drechsel Bypass Trust, Dee Ann Drechsel and Roland Drechsel III.
- 1400 Texas St. from Gary Drechsel, Randy Drechsel, Roland H.W. Drechsel III and Dee Ann Drechsel.
Fort Worth’s plans for a new downtown library have gone through multiple versions since the city sold the former Central Library building at 500 W. 3rd St. in May 2023 and closed the library in June the same year.
The city subsequently bought a building then housing the Center for Transforming Lives at 512 W. 4th St. and positioned it as the next downtown library branch. But the city said this spring the required renovations make the historic building unsuitable for a library. The city announced it would renovate the 4th Street building as a community arts incubator.
The city continues to maintain the Downtown Express Library, a temporary satellite library it opened in March 2024 at Old City Hall, 200 Texas St.
The West 3rd building was about 175,000 square feet. But that included space for what’s now the Fort Worth History Center, offices and studios for Fort Worth city cable television, back-of-house sorting and distribution now housed in a building on Camp Bowie West, and the never-used second floor, Burghdoff said.
Fort Worth library staff expects this year to be the first that digital checkouts exceed print materials.
Still, Burghdoff said “the recent trend in digital checkouts did not impact the planning process. The projected size and scale of the library is based on facility planning and anticipated utilization for programs and services.”
Scott Nishimura is a senior editor for local government accountability and a Fort Worth City Hall reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org.
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