Open House About Plans for New Downtown Library

DULUTH, Minn. — The vision for a new multi-million-dollar Downtown Duluth Library is continuing to take shape.

Thursday, the Duluth Library Foundation held an open house for the community to learn more about the proposal. The cost to demolish the current library on west Superior Street and replace with a new one is estimated around $72 million dollars.

The city is looking to secure state and federal dollars for the project. The new facility would aim to expand study and meeting space, while relocating several of Duluth’s community services into the building into a multi-use modern day library.

“Right now, we’re seeking to rebuild the downtown library facility with a whole new 82,000 square foot facility. We’re seeking to ask the states for bonding dollars to support that,” said Executive Director of the Duluth Library Foundation Erin Kreeger. “This new facility will co-locate the downtown library, workforce development, and other community services.”

Duluth’s Downtown Library campus was built in 1980.

The redesign project looks to modernize the library, to provide better use of space and be an anchor on the west part of downtown to help revitalize the area.

“The current downtown library facility doesn’t function well as a library and the infrastructure is deteriorating to a place that after a lot of study from technical experts from city consultants, we discovered that any effort to rehabilitate this building would be nearly the same costs as rebuilding,” said Kreeger. “But it’ll be larger so it can house more things for the community.”

The Duluth Library Foundation hopes to secure the necessary funding for the new library before the end of the year.

The plan does not involve raising taxes.