The city of Fort Worth is turning the page on its search for a new downtown Fort Worth library, now making plans to buy 1.38 acres on Summit Avenue south of West 7th Street.<\/p>\n
City Council members on June 23 will vote to buy several pieces of property for up to $5.95 million. The city would demolish buildings currently on the sites and combine the lots to \u201caccomodate a library and adjacent parking,\u201d it said in a release late Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
The city said it would seek public input on what to build on the small property, but didn\u2019t elaborate on whether there are any preliminary ideas for the site. City staff previously said Fort Worth will invest nearly $36 million to construct a new 20,000- to 30,000-square-foot library<\/a> on a yet-to-be-determined site.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are excited that an ideal site for a new downtown library has been found so quickly, a step that will keep the project moving forward,\u201d Midori Clark, the city\u2019s library director, said in the release. \u201cWe are committed to making this new library one that Fort Worth residents will be proud of for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Fort Worth\u2019s plans for a library downtown have gone through multiple iterations 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.<\/p>\n The city subsequently bought the historic 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 building unsuitable for a library. The city announced it would renovate the 4th Street building as a community arts incubator<\/a>.<\/p>\n The city continues to maintain Downtown Express, a temporary satellite library it opened in March 2024 at Old City Hall, 200 Texas St.<\/p>\n The sites the city plans to buy for the new library:<\/p>\n One of the combined plots of land fronts Summit on the west, 10th on the north, and Ballinger on the south. There is a shuttered office building on the Summit section and parking along 10th and Ballinger.<\/p>\n The second combined site is on the other side of 10th, fronts Summit, 10th and Ballinger, and is undeveloped.<\/p>\n\n