Work to start on new downtown library

AUSTIN (AP) — Construction is set to start next month on a new central library in Downtown Austin.

John Gillum, the library department official overseeing the project, tells the Austin American-Statesman that a ground-breaking ceremony is set for May 30. The 200,000-square-foot limestone and glass building is expected to open in 2016.

It will include an atrium, a street-level cafe, “reading porches” that overlook Shoal Creek and Lady Bird Lake and a rooftop garden.

Gillum says the six-story library will be “a destination.”

The library is expected to cost $120 million, including money to build it, as well as outfit it with furniture, computers and new books and library materials. Most of the money will come from a 2006, voter-approved bond package.