WILMINGTON — Residents of southern Wilmington will soon have a new $6.2 million public library in the area, two miles north of the existing Myrtle Grove Branch — and nearly three times its size.
Pine Valley will offer additional parking and 19,500 square feet of space for books and other resources, library programs and services, and community meetings, according to New Hanover County spokesperson Jessica Loeper.
“The library served that community really well for about two decades and they just needed more space — more space for children’s areas, a bigger community meeting space, and a lot more parking,” Loeper said.
After more than 25 years, Myrtle Grove will close its doors to the public for the last time on Friday, April 26 at 5 p.m. Library staff will use the following week to move books and other resources to the new library, which is now in its final phase of construction.
A grand opening ceremony will be held on Monday, May 6, beginning at 9 a.m.
According to Harry Tuchmayer, Director of New Hanover County Public Libraries, the number of people visiting Myrtle Grove was well above what it could properly accommodate. After first looking into expanding the 6,900-square-foot library, county commissioners voted to build a new one instead.
“We’ve seen tremendous growth in the twenty-five years since the building’s been built,” Tuchmayer said. “When we first opened in ‘93, there were about 47,000 people within a 5-mile radius. Now we’re over 120,000 in the same area.”
Wilmington-based Bordeaux Construction Company broke ground in November 2017, and Tuchmayer said they are still under the $6.2 million budget allocated for the project — and only two months off its February target date due to delays caused by Hurricane Florence.
“Given the fact how long we were basically out of operation because of the inability to get resources here and workers back, I think we did really well recovering,” Tuchmayer said.
He said Vines Architecture in Raleigh designed the space to be bright and open, with few fixed features, to best accommodate for kids and their parents.
During the transition, from April 27 through May 5, residents are encouraged to visit one of the county’s three other library branches: Pleasure Island (1401 N. Lake Park Blvd. in Carolina Beach) Northeast Regional (1241 Military Cutoff Trail), and Main (201 Chestnut St.).
Pine Valley Library is located at 3802 South College Road, just north of Cape Fear Academy.
Mark Darrough can be reached at Mark@Localvoicemedia.com
