A blue-ribbon committee of Minneapolis officials and library enthusiasts submitted to the mayor a recommendation July 26 to replace the existing main library with a new $175-million structure. The five-story design, which features a self-contained winter garden, beat out two other plans, a four-story facility that would have required a larger footprint and a building that would have straddled 3rd Street.
Financing hinges on a property-tax-hike referendum of up to $110 million that the taxation board is scheduled in mid-August to consider placing before voters in November. Another $20 million would come from taxes generated by two residential towers slated to be built a block away from the library site as part of an overall mixed-use vision for the area. Private donations, state aid, and fees for the new library’s public parking lot would comprise the balance.
Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton said in the July 26 Minneapolis Star Tribune that she plans to have “serious negotiations” about the size of the financing package, since she is already committed to backing a school-spending increase.
Posted July 31, 2000.