The picture makes it look like this is replacing most of the Whole Foods parking lot. I’m curious as to where they plan to put parking for this massive library plus Whole Foods shoppers.

There’s a parking garage next to the parking lot that doesn’t seem to get much use

Do you mean the one by JCPenney by the mall?

FAQ here on the library’s website

No, the one close to Whole Foods

There is a parking deck directly next to the lot where this is going. It is only 2 levels, but it is rarely used. Just south of Grillmarx

Right, I forgot about that lot, used to park there to go to the CA office when it was located there. I would love to see them fix up the walking path over Little Patuxent Parkway and hopefully increase parking at this two level parking structure you mentioned.

Fact is that of everything the county or developers could build there, a library like this would be pretty great.

Wow! It looks really nice. How long is construction supposed to take?

BTW. Off topic but for a walkable city I've been kinda disappointed by the lack of bikability of certain roads. For example Snowden connects several of us to shops but there are often no bike lanes which would make it unsafe.

Construction starts in 2026!

Gregg Fitchett said the library will include a parking component, so possibly underground parking or part of the building we haven’t seen

I like the idea as it would make the library itself more accessible but isn’t there another branch close by? Or am i misremembering? Would that branch close down or would it just be moving to this new location? Or would both be open to help with foot traffic?

There is a connector roadway planned between broken land parkway and US 29 that goes pretty much directly over the site of the current Central library, so this would be a replacement

the architecture firm is amazing im so happy they’re going to build something here!

I thought that was whole foods employee parking. Pretty sure I remember a sign saying that. Not enforced?

Tbh even with a bike lane I wouldn’t feel safe biking on snowden past McGraw Rd…

As much as I don’t like the rapid development and the Merryweather District, the English major in me is getting a little excited about a new library…

I wonder about the details - like is it going to be affordable condos or apartments or a mix and how is the housing part going to be managed?

Hopefully this can get in place by 2030 if they start in 2026. The construction might be a bit disruptive if I'm looking at the scale of this right.

I read the article as their will be housing where the old library was.

I hope people actually read this so they can stop asking obvious questions here.

Isn't the goal to have this complete by 2028?

In just the past three years, this county has committed north of $250 million on two buildings. During both instances the developer never defined what “affordable” means.

Meanwhile Howard Hughes Corporation and their allied developers can take this government promissory note to their investors and bankers to finance their other boondoggle projects.

$250 million would pay for a lot of low-income housing. It would end homelessness in Howard County.

Is there really demand for a library? One would think in todays digital world, libraries would be going away. Maybe I'm wrong or missing something.

Affordable housing in Columbia… lmfao my rent for a 2 bedroom just got bumped to 2,300. I live near Target btw. Smh. What will it be in 2026 3k? 😂

Libraries are so, so much more than books.

Libraries have expanded in a lot of new exciting directions over the past years - cool summary here and it encompasses things the county is already doing on some level in various spaces (makers space - Glenwood, DIY rental Elkridge, stop by East Columbia any day after school to see what a hot spot that is with teens and school aged kids for learning)- I suspect this library will be showcase that folds many things together.

https://www.libraryjournal.com/story/technology/2-st-century-lbraries-changing-from-the-ground-up-lj210616

In case this is helpful and not too wonky, I will share that affordable housing is generally defined using a percentage of area median income - to see what is "affordable" at various percentages check out the link below. If you are in market rate housing (unrestricted), it does fluctuate with the market without an affordable cap and to your point, is might often not feel affordable.

Using this chart, your two bedroom unit would be affordable at the 80% of area median income level if it were priced at or below $2090 a month including utilities. Bedrooms are priced with an "estimate" of 1.5 people per bedroom (no matter how many people are actually living there). For a two person household to be eligible to rent that apartment with two bedrooms, they would need earn at or below $74,320 per year. As area median income changes (it usually rises, but sometimes it goes down) the limits change. The basic idea nationwide across many programs is rent + utilities should be about 30% of people's income to be considered affordable. Some of the details vary, but this is generally how most programs are structured. There is only one meaningful program that creates affordable housing at scale throughout the country and it is the low-income housing tax credit program. It's kind of a misnomer, because if you look at the income limits below you can see many are not low - they actually span a broad range of jobs including many public servants.

https://dhcd.maryland.gov/HousingDevelopment/Documents/rhf/2022MDIncomeLimitsRents.pdf