A development team led by Ernst Valery on Thursday unveiled preliminary plans for Library Lofts, a five-story building in Pigtown that will contain a new branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library on the first two levels and 21 apartments above.
The Baltimore Development Corp. sought proposals for redevelopment of the city-owned library at 856 Washington Boulevard and selected a team headed by Valery, founder and president of Ernest Valery Investments Corporation, with Moseley Architects as the designer. Baltimore’s Board of Estimates approved a land disposition agreement in 2022.
Plans presented to the city’s Urban Design and Architecture Advisory Panel (UDAAP) on Thursday call for a two-story, 7,400-square-foot library to replace the current one-story library, which is currently closed and will be razed.
The library will be on the first and second floors, containing nearly twice as much space as the existing branch. Also on the first floor will be a 700-square-foot office and community space for Pigtown Main Street, a non-profit organization that works to promote and revitalize the area.
The upper three floors will contain 21 apartments, as well as amenity spaces for tenants on each floor and a rooftop deck and partial green roof. The front of the building will have separate entrances for the library and for the apartments and office space. Suggested exterior materials include brick and cast stone for the front of the building and metal panels for the back and sides, with a possible mural on one side.
Gayatri Hegde, an associate with Moseley Architects, told the panel the design and development team set out to “bring back more than what was here before…We want it to be a big resource for the community and we want it to be a place where a lot of people come and visit.” Tom Liebel, a principal with Moseley, said his firm also has been hired to design the replacement library branch for the Pratt system.
UDAAP chair Pavlina Ilieva praised the project, noting that it’s the first time in Baltimore that a public library will be built in conjunction with new housing.
“Not often do we see such a lovely mix of program – so-called institutional sort of program with a residential component,” she said. It’s [EG1] a “really truly unexpected melding of two different uses that are very community-forward and very appropriate for a neighborhood like that…I think the project has tremendous opportunity and I think the team has handled it very smartly.”
According to public officials, the building will be constructed and owned by the developer and the library space will be leased to the Pratt system for $1 a year for at least 25 years. The UDAAP meeting was required as part of the developer’s process of applying for construction permits.
While the Washington Boulevard branch is closed, pop-up library services will be available in Pigtown at Paul’s Place, a community center at 1118 Ward Ave. The pop-up will be open on Mondays and Wednesdays, from 10 a.m. to noon and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. According to Pigtown Main Street, services include: browsing of a limited selection of books and DVDs; hold pickups; computers for public use and job and career assistance.
Kim Lane, executive director of Pigtown Main Street, said the project will benefit the neighborhood.
“It’s a perfect public, private and community project,” she said in an email message after the design review meeting. “The project adds needed density to our commercial corridor [and] the community gets a new library and meeting room…Ernst Valery and his team continue to invest in Pigtown for the public good.”
Although, I understand what they are going for, I am not sure this is the building to do it.