A Brooklyn public library will be redeveloped into a new modern branch with affordable housing above it. Mayor Eric Adams announced on Wednesday plans to replace the 70-year-old New Utrecht Library in Bensonhurst with a new state-of-the-art branch alongside housing units, part of the city’s “Living Libraries” program, which pairs new libraries with housing. The city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) will issue a request for proposals for the redevelopment, which will also include the city-owned parking lot next to the library.
“Today, with the city’s help, we are taking a step forward for the Bensonhurst community. The Living Library redevelopment project will allow us to reinvigorate the aging New Utrecht Library building and provide the community with a modern branch for the 21st century,” Linda E. Johnson, president and CEO of BPL, said.
The New Utrecht Library dates back to 1894, when the Free Library of the Town of New Utrecht first opened. The branch joined the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) system in 1901 and moved to its current location at 1743 86th Street in 1956.
Today, it is one of BPL’s busiest branches, offering a wide range of programs, including Summer Meals, Kids Create, Chinese brush painting, Story Play, computer courses, and more.
This redevelopment falls under the city’s “Living Libraries” program, which combines modernized libraries with affordable housing to address the city’s housing shortage. Other projects include the upcoming redevelopment of the Upper West Side’s Bloomingdale Library with 850 housing units and plans to transform a 1950s-era Grand Concourse branch into a modern facility topped with affordable apartments.
The city’s first 100-percent affordable housing and library development opened in Sunset Park in November 2023, and a similar project in Inwood opened last June.
The Adams administration and library will lead a comprehensive community engagement process, inviting feedback from patrons and local residents through a project questionnaire available online and in print.
In addition to the questionnaire, HPD and BPL will host an in-person workshop at the library, as well as local tabling events and meetings with the community board and other stakeholders.
Feedback gathered from these surveys and events will form a community visioning report that the city and BPL will use to guide the request for proposals process. Submissions must address the priorities identified in the report. The community visioning process will run through the fall, with an in-person community workshop to be announced soon.
The New Utrecht Library will remain open until construction begins. The city and BPL have pledged that essential library services will continue uninterrupted throughout the project.
“Earlier this year, I told New Yorkers that we would make our city the best place to raise a family; projects like New Utrecht are how we get it done. This ambitious project will deliver affordable housing, high-quality services, and a state-of-the-art library, all in one location,” Adams said.
“With our historic ‘City of Yes for Housing’ initiative, we said yes to more housing all across the city, and with ‘City of Yes for Families,’ we are saying yes to keeping families in the five boroughs, year after, generation after generation.”
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