Quick Take
The downtown library mixed-use project will officially start construction with a groundbreaking ceremony on Aug. 20. Shovels were expected to hit the ground in June, but a series of delays pushed the timeline into August.
Santa Cruz’s downtown library mixed-use project is finally expected to break ground later this month after a lengthy delay.
The project will officially kick off with a private groundbreaking ceremony on Aug. 20, according to Santa Cruz Planning and Community Development director Lee Butler.
DOWNTOWN LIBRARY/AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT: Read past Lookout coverage here
Shovels were expected to hit the ground at Lot 4 in June, but the deadline was pushed back, according to the city.
“While construction was originally anticipated to begin in June, like many major construction projects, timelines can shift slightly as final preparations are made,” city spokesperson Erika Smart wrote Lookout in a statement. “Between the closure of Toadal Fitness and the relocation of the Downtown Farmers Market, our teams have been working diligently behind the scenes to ensure a smooth transition into the next phase of the project.”
A perimeter fence went up around the city-owned parking between Cathcart and Lincoln streets in late July but the sidewalks were still open for pedestrians. The most recent delay in closing the site was because of problems relocating the sidewalk, according to Sarah Beck, executive director of Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries. The longtime downtown farmers market moved to Cedar and Church street in June.
A $55 million tax credit awarded to the City of Santa Cruz, Eden Housing and For the Future Housing to build the housing component of the project required construction to begin by July 21, project manager Brian Borguno told Lookout in an email, but the city received a 30-day extension to Aug. 21.
The city’s planned June start date was not a deadline to start construction, he said. “All funds are secured/closed and ready to be drawn down, the building permit has been issued and construction is beginning with securing the site and site prep,” Borguno wrote.
Plans for a 123-unit affordable housing complex with a 240-space parking garage were fully funded as of last year and are expected to be built first, according to the city. A second phase of construction to build the interior of the library is not fully funded but expected to begin next year, the city said.
Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, the library’s nonprofit fundraising organization, has raised $2 million of its $3 million fundraising goal to build the library’s interior, per its website. Monterey Peninsula Foundation will match up to $400,000 in donations to the library through November.
The state awarded the city $4.5 million in June to fund the construction of study rooms and a California history room as part of the second phase of the project. This will be added to the $20 million already funded for the library from Measure S, the 2016 county library bond measure, along with $8 million from the sale of Skypark lands to the City of Scotts Valley and eventually the $3 million from Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Deputy City Manager Bonnie Lipscomb told a June city council meeting.
Under Measure S, the $67 million bond measure to rebuild or remodel 10 county libraries, construction on all libraries was supposed to be done by this year. The downtown library is the only library funded by Measure S that remains unbuilt, after the city’s multi-use plan spurred a failed ballot measure in 2022 to stop the downtown library project, in part over concerns about the loss of trees on Lot 4. As part of the library construction, 36 trees will be planted to replace the heritage trees being cut down on the lot.
The friends of the library’s efforts have raised almost enough money to fulfill the nonprofit’s small but important part of the total Phase 2 costs, Beck said. Fundraising started with big donors and foundations, and now organizers are filling the gap with small individual donors. Beck said “there’s no question” the organization will be able to meet its fundraising goals as it works to see the library project come to fruition.
“We’re going to be so proud to walk into that beautiful building, it’s going to be transformative for that neighborhood,” Beck told Lookout. “I mean, just imagine, we’re all going to be saying: ‘Hey, I’ll meet you at the downtown library.’ How often do you get to be somewhere where you don’t have to pay money to be there?”
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