Library still in acquisition mode
By Silver Springer • May 17th, 2007 • Category: Real Estate
The future Silver Spring library is still in preliminary planning according to the Gary Stith, Silver Spring Regional Center Director. All parcels needed to begin construction have not yet been acquired.
The square shaped lot outlined in red above, would be bounded by Wayne Avenue, Bonifant and Fenton streets.
Acquiring the sites has displaced several small businesses and will continue to do so as more parcels are claimed.
The Jow Hop Kuen Gung Fu, a martial arts academy that was located at 905 Bonifant Street has already closed for business. Moose Lodge house on Wayne Avenue is slated close and be acquired by the county in the future.
The county has offered relocation assistance to a body shop at the corner of Fenton and Bonifant but it is uncertain whether the same assistance has been given to the other small independent businesses already displaced.
In comparison, the Silver Spring Library would be approximately 42,000 square feet versus the 64,285 gross square feet of primary library use space at the new three story, 60’foot Rockville Library. The Rockville Library in total has 102,670 with the addition of a Business incubator attached that is approximately 25,000 square feet. Of the 102,670 solely for library building itself, 29,875 square feet is of County administrative use, 64,285 for library patrons and 3,645 for ground floor retail.
There was no mention of the Silver Spring library having ground floor retail or using the space to relocate the displaced small businesses.
The Library site was also chosen as a possible station location for the future Purple Line/Bi-County Transit way. A conceptual site plan shows a station following a diagonal path on through the library site from Bonifant to Wayne.
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We probably won’t know anything about ground-floor retail space until the Purple Line alignment is figured out.
I had always thought that boarded-up red brick apartment building on Bonifant was part of the library site, but I see it’s not included in your boundary. What’s supposed to become of that place? It’s been vacant for years.
Yes to more ground level retail! The long expanse of hotel between “the strip” and the rest of Fenton street is a drag. If you want development to move up to at least Safeway, we need more along that area. Silver Spring needs more retail. I’d like to see (not necessarily in a library space) a Fossil store, a funky shoe store, and an asian grocery store.
And I’m still hoping for an outer purple line
Information from different sources have me to believe the old apartment building is to be renovated into new residential use. Gary Stith has said there is a housing initiative in place and another source says a developer is planning on adding 7 stories of residential on top of the existing structure; the zoning laws preclude this project from achieving higher heights.
I think libraries, unlike other institutional structures are very lively at the ground level if designed properly and DO NOT require ground-floor retail space to encourage pedestrian traffic. The Rockville Libary would work just fine without the Thai restaurant going in (it should have been a Starbucks and connected to the library interior, that would be sweet)because it has huge windows at street level. I think a well-designed two level facility with no patron parking (the massive Town Center garage is right across the street)and no retail component would hold down the costs meanwhile allowing for a more elaborate design than most County libraries. There is plenty of room onsite to accomodate such a facility if extras such as a parking garge, ground level retail, and lobby space for air rights development do not have to be accomodated. Alternatively they could combine the Civic Center project with the library at either of the proposed facility sites and build taller and either sell the library land for development or convert the Civic Center site for green space.
Love the idea of the Civic Center and library next to each other! Wouldn’t it have been better to have the library where the condo is supposed to be going in next to the Civic Center? Talk about a hub of activity that would be! The parking garage is also just across the street. No problem with purple line noise then, and still an easy walk to everywhere.
Woodsider, wasn’t it the plan to combine the Civic Center and Library before Duncan killed it back when the DSS plans were in the works?
What’s happening with the parking at the library?
Wonder how the new library site was decided? What’s wrong with enlarging/renovating the old space? There is a wonderful park right next door to the current library. With parking such a mess in downtown silver spring, I worry about the ease of getting to and awar from the library. Perhaps they should consider a location near the Fenton Gateway Park (it’s closer to South Silver Spring), and I suspect land acquisition would be much cheaper.
Now more trendy retail!!!
Yuppies, hipsters, snobs get out of my town and go F- yourself
Woah. I feel like I’ve been under a rock outta the country. All this time I thought the fenced area next to the turf was gonna be the library.
I dont like the library being on bonifant & fenton. The traffic @ wayne/fenton is waaaay to much.
Wait, I just realised, PLS DONT TELL ME that they’re gonna close down the China house on the corner of wayne/fenton(directly across from the hotel, corner across from sprint). We already lost the ones in Wheaton.