Board endorses Council’s First Parliament Site land swap and relocation of Library facilities

TORONTO (Wednesday, September 26, 2012) – At Monday night’s meeting of the Toronto Public Library Board at Toronto Reference Library, it endorsed the City Council decision to negotiate a land exchange with the owner of the lands at 271 Front Street East and 25 Berkeley Street (otherwise known as the first Parliament site) for City-owned property at 281 Front Street and 43A Parliament Street. The Library currently occupies the building at 281 Front Street East, where its Bibliographic Services department and one of its Facilities operations are located. The Board approved the relocation of both of these operations from 281 Front Street to 1076 Ellesmere.   

The planned relocation was included in the 2012 Approved Capital Budget and 2013 to 2021 Capital Plan for Toronto Public Library (TPL) beginning in the year 2020, with construction to begin in 2022 and beyond. Due to the land acquisition at 271 Front Street, this relocation will be accelerated into 2012 (design) and 2013 and 2014 (construction). The cost of this project is estimated to be approximately $9.33 million.

In addition, the St. Lawrence Branch of the Library, also included in the 2012 Approved Budget and 2013 to 2020 Capital plan, was originally to be located at 281 Front Street to better serve the expanding population in the East Bayfront/West Donlands area. With the relocation of the Bibliographic Services and Facilities operations, it is now anticipated that the St. Lawrence Branch will be relocated to 271 Front Street East (the first Parliament site), though no decisions have been made.

Other highlights of Monday night’s meeting:

The Library Board approved a revised 2013 - 2022 capital budget submission of $12.9 million debt ($33.3 million gross) for 2013 and $173.7 million debt ($257.7 million gross) over 2013 – 2022. The revisions to the budget include the Library Processing Centre Relocation to 1076 Ellesmere; and renovations to Brookbanks, Centennial and Perth/Dupont branches. In all cases, the revisions to the projects incur no additional debt.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Library Board is scheduled for October 22, 2012, at 6:00 pm at Toronto Reference Library.

Toronto Public Library is the world's busiest urban public library system. Every year, more than 19 million people visit our branches in neighbourhoods across the city and borrow over 33 million items. To learn more about Toronto Public Library, visit our website at torontopubliclibrary.ca or call Answerline at 416-393-7131. To get the most current updates on what’s happening at the library, follow us on Twitter @torontolibrary.

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Media Contact:
Melanie Boatswain-Watson 416-397-5936
media@torontopubliclibrary.ca