Rebuilding of Milwaukee's East Library to Get Underway Next Month

The Standard @ East Library

Credit:  Engberg Anderson

East Library to close current location for rebuilding. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/16/2013)

Excerpt: When the library closes for the last time in its current form on Saturday, it will have served the east side for 45 years. The one-story, 13,800-square-foot library has long been in need of repairs, said the library's regional branch manager, Rachel Collins. 

Two years ago, that need led the city to consider a slew of reconstruction proposals from real estate developers intent on capitalizing on what Collins called a "prime piece of real estate." One Waukesha-based developer, HSI Properties LLC, ultimately won out with a proposal for a four-story building with 99 apartments situated above a new, 17,000-square-foot library. The multiuse design will see the new library reconstructed at no cost to the city. Interior design for the new space will cost the city roughly $2.75 million. 

The new space, set to open in fall 2014, will boast 

• two state-of-the-art meeting rooms furnished with translucent glass, 
• a revamped space for children, 
• a new laptop vending machine and 
• a designated teen space, an amenity the current facility lacks. 

The national architectural firm Hammel, Green and Abrahamson will execute those designs once the shell of the library is turned over to the city in early 2014, said Milwaukee Public Library Communications and Marketing Director Brooke VandeBerg.

Credit:  Milwaukee Public Library