The County of San Diego is preparing to build a new $19 milliion Lakeside public library.
The 16,400 sq. ft. structure will include a community room for events, a bookstore and large spaces for children and teens.
HED is the project’s architect of record, working with PCL Construction on the project.
“Libraries are not just a place for books anymore,” County Supervisor Dianne Jacob said in a Nov. 25 statement. “They’re a place for children to do their homework, they’re gathering places. And a lot of resources will come into this community as a result of the new library, because it will be bigger and better.
County officials say construction is expected to start in the spring of 2021 and be completed in summer 2022.
The County’s Board of Supervisors voted to buy the land to build the new library in September 2017, when Jacob called it a project “near and dear to me and many folks in Lakeside.”
The library will be solar-powered “zero net-energy building,” with a 2,000-sq. ft. community room that can seat 150 people. The community room alone is a little less than one-half the size of the current 5,000-sq. ft. Lakeside library that was built in 1962. The new library will be built just a few blocks away from the current branch on Woodside Road near Channel Road.
In addition to the community room, the new library will include five study rooms, a conference room, a patio, a Friends of the Library bookstore and public art. It will also feature the latest in library technology, including automated book returns, a laptop kiosk, an audio-visual system and digital signage.
