Much Delayed Muhlenberg Library Re-Opening Now Pushed Back to August

The much delayed reconstruction of the Muhlenberg Library in Chelsea has been pushed back once again but is now expected to reopen in August.

The library at 209 W. 23rd St. has been shut for nearly six years.

Back in 2023, the non profit news site The City was already calling the Muhlenberg Library the “longest outstanding construction project at any city library.” THE CITY obtained the detailed list of delayed library work across the city via a Freedom of Information Law request from the city’s Department of Design and Construction (DDC).

During its heyday, it was considered one of the jewels of the public library system. It was opened originally in 1906 as one of 65 so-called Carnegie Libraries bankrolled by Gilded Age steel baron Andrew Carnegie.

The three-story brick and limestone structure was designed by esteemed architects Carrere & Hastings and is named for William Augustus Muhlenberg, the first rector of Chelsea’s Church of the Holy Communion, [which achieved a level of infamy in the go-go 1980s when the shut down church was converted into the Limelight nightclub.]

Today, the first result to pop up from a perfunctory web search for “Muhlenberg Library Branch renovation” is a post from their own Facebook page back in 2022, projecting an estimated completion date for the construction on the premises just a year later. (A side note: it took only just over a year to construct all one hundred and two stories of the iconic Empire State Building from scratch over a hundred year ago, but such it is with bureaucracy and permits.) The proposed 2023 completion date was, of course, just as the pandemic was wrapping up, and New York City building delays are are pretty much the rule rather than the exception.

The NYPL now says the latest target date for a reopening is now August.

While the long drawn out construction project has been underway, Chelsea bibliophiles, have had to hike to either the Heiskell Brail and Talking Book Library nearly a mile away on W. 20th Street, or the Epiphany Library on E. 23d St. (Despite the similar name, the library is not affiliated with the nearby Epiphany Catholic elementary school on E. 22nd St. and Second Ave.)

While the Heiskell branch is dedicated to providing resources to the blind, it has all the other working functions of any NYPL branch. It has, of course, seen a significant uptick in usage since Muhlenberg closed.

Many librarians were furloughed, displaced and shifted around during the pandemic. And at the peak of the migrant crisis, Mayor Eric Adams in 2023 proposed chopping nearly $33 million from the NYPL budget forcing even the small number of libraries in Manhattan that opened on Sundays to shut their doors for the day and stay open only six days. Most of the funding was restored as the migrant crisis began to ease less than a year later but that did not move the Muhlenberg project along any faster.

The construction began when the Department of Design and Construction (the division that oversees such city capital construction projects) was still using the “lowest bidder” strategy when hiring contractors, a policy that caused friction and delays amongst multiple involved parties and is no longer implemented, according to Ian Michaels, the Executive Director of Public Information for the bureau. Now, they bundle the projects into “into one contract with one designer and one contractor,” states Michaels, prioritizing efficiency, which in theory results in fewer delays and a more streamlined process.

But to some extent, those conflicting agencies are exactly what caused delays on the multitude of projects being undertaken at the branch. Many may recall the snail-paced and chronically out-of-order elevator, which was replaced in May 2024 to the tune of $100,000. (Fixing stuff ain’t cheap.) But that pales in comparison to the $2.4 million needed to replace the HVAC system, which was finally completed as of eleven months ago.

Sidewalk and vault repair and replacement (vaults are the spaces underneath the sidewalk that extend subterranean property beyond the confines of the building’s facade) was completed five months ago in November 2024 for $383,000. The final step on behalf of the DDC was implementing a new fire alarm and fire control system, all work for which has been completed ($1.6 million) and is just awaiting FDNY inspection and certification.

Total costs for the overhaul came to nearly $5 million, which, according to an article published in The City on June 26 of 2023, cannot be compared to any budget projections. It states that “ the project has gone on so long that city officials involved in the repairs no longer remember how much it was initially supposed to cost.” Given that it’s been nearly six years, or 179 months since the renovation was initiated, that forgetfulness may be understandable.

The remaining projects are under the direction of the NYPL itself. According to Alex Teplitzky, Senior Communications Manager, these include “a refresh project that originated on the teen and children’s floor and will expand to include the other floors in the building.” It is estimated to require four or five months to complete the updates, which include buffing up the aesthetics of the building, replacing flooring and windows, painting the entirety of the building, and some IT installation.

Finally, the scruffy exterior, which is all residents have been able to observe for the past three long years, will be repaired and cleaned. So keep your eye out for the brand new banner in less than a year, which will fly in front, proudly demonstrating the long awaited branch with its new spiffed-up countenance and interior is finally open again for business.

Although given its history, we will believe it when we see it.