The Fort Worth City Council on June 23 approved spending $5.95 million to buy 1.38 acres off Summit Avenue. The site will be used to house a new downtown public library after the city abandoned previous plans to convert a historic building it already owned.
The land purchase marks the latest turn in a three-year effort to replace the old central library, which the city sold in 2023. It sets the stage for a future design phase, public input process and funding push.
The council authorized buying the cluster of parcels with plans to demolish the existing, abandoned office buildings on the premises and make room for the future library and parking. According to officials, the location was chosen due to its proximity to downtown residents, its accessibility and its capacity to hold both the building and accompanying parking structure.
City officials anticipate the new library will be a two-story building, though final design has not been set. Planning documents describe the facility as spanning between 20,000 and 30,000 square feet. It is currently undecided whether parking will be structured or surface level.
The city had originally bought the former Center for Transforming Lives building at 512 W. Fourth St. for $6.5 million, using proceeds from the sale of the old central library. Officials intended to convert the building into the new downtown branch, but city staff concluded the historic structure was poorly suited for library use.
Officials cited a single shared entrance, a cramped lobby with no security space, split-level stairs and a layout that would have scattered the library across six floors as primary reasons they abandoned the plan.
Rather than renovate it as a library, the city now plans to repurpose 512 W. Fourth St. as a community arts incubator.
Under the proposed reuse plan, the building’s lower-level day care space would become a rentable artist marketplace, with the first-floor grand room repurposed to host community arts and events. The plan also calls for the second-floor theater to support performing arts while the third through fifth floors would offer rentable artist studios.
To fund the new library off Summit Avenue, city staff has proposed assembling the budget from several sources, including leftover money from the canceled Fourth Street renovation, proceeds from a bond sale, reserve funds and an anticipated capital campaign led by the Fort Worth Public Library Foundation.
City estimates presented June 2 put the building cost near $35.6 million, with the foundation expected to add $5 million to $7 million, for a combined project estimate of about $41 million to $43 million.
The new library would replace the almost 175,000-square-foot central library at 500 W. Third St., which the city sold in May 2023 and closed the following month. Officials note that much of that space served functions beyond public library use.
A temporary satellite location, the Downtown Express Library, has operated at Old City Hall at 200 Texas Street since March 2024 and will continue offering limited services moving forward.
Photo by Erik Mclean from Pexels
This story is part of the weekly Texas Government Insider digital news publication. See more of the latest Texas government news here. For more national government news, check out Government Market News daily for new stories, insights and profiles from public sector professionals.
