The City of Austin says the new downtown Central Library will open Saturday, Oct. 28.
The facility on Cesar Chavez Street, which is intended to replace the 1970s-era John Henry Faulk Library on Guadalupe, was set to open last year, but the project was delayed. Facilities Process Manager John Gillum led a tour of the new library Tuesday, calling it the "project of a lifetime."
The new six-story library is twice the size of its predecessor and features a cooking demonstration area, performance space, cafe and rooftop garden.
Next week, city staff will begin moving books from the Faulk Library to the new facility.
Austin voters approved a $90 million-bond for the library in 2006, but Austin City Council members voted to add an additional $30 million in city money to the budget after a revision of the project in 2010. Council approved an additional $5 million in 2016 to cover the final stretch of construction and labor costs, bringing the total cost to $125 million.
Construction on the library began in 2013.
