New Transcona Library an open, accessible space for community
By: Sheldon Birnie
Posted: 03/7/2019 2:34 PM
The new Transcona Library, located at 1 Transcona Blvd., opened on March 7. (SHELDON BIRNIE/CANSTAR/THE HERALD)
It was the start of a new chapter for the Park City.
On March 7, the new Transcona Library, located at 1 Transcona Blvd., officially opened its doors to the public.
"It’s a beautiful, open space," Coun. Shawn Nason (Transcona) said of the 13,831 square-foot building. "There’s lots of opportunity for community gathering here."
"Libraries are important community spaces," Mayor Brian Bowman told a crowd that included local dignitaries, students from nearby Joseph Teres School, and hundreds of area residents. "They help build pride in our communities, and what pride did you feel walking in here today?"
Bowman added that a new library for the area had been a priority for the City’s Library Redevelopment Strategy since 2013, along with new libraries in Windsor Park and Charleswood, and upgrades to a number of other libraries across Winnipeg.
Ground was broken on the new library in August 2017. The building, which features large glass walls on the north and south sides, along with large windows facing the east and west, was designed by Cibinel Architecture Ltd. and built by Boretta Construction at a total cost to the City of $6,515,000. It also includes an open and accessible floor plan with meeting and study spaces, a family literacy playground and children’s area, new shelving for the library’s collection of 40,000 items, new furniture, an outdoor reading deck and garden, a 24-7 book return, and a living green wall.
The grand opening was attended by a number of local parents with their young children in tow.
Yong Min King and Helen Suh live nearby in Devonshire Village with their daughter Maggie.
"We always use the library every week," Suh said. "This is an improvement. We can just walk over here."
"My kids are so excited," said Amanda Teitsma, a mother of five who lives two doors down from the library. "We’ve been watching it being built."
"It’s nice to see a bright open space here not only for the community, but also for the staff here to use," said Lisa Van Den Holden, a mother of three who lives in Oxford Heights. "The program space at the old library had to be so many things, and a lot of times the kids programs were interrupted."
"The challenge with the other library was that it was condensed, two levels that wasn’t overly accessible," Nason said.
The old Transcona Library, located at 111 Victoria Ave. W, opened in 1961. Its space was doubled to 8,574 square-feet in 1975, and an elevator connecting the two floors was added in 1991. Currently, the public service is in the process of determining whether there is a use for the space for the City, or whether the property will be put up for sale.
"It’s important to make sure the properties in Winnipeg are all fully utilized to their full potential," Nason said.
The new library is situated across Transcona Boulevard from the Park City Commons mixed-use development, which is expected to add thousands of new residents and a number of new businesses to the former Public Works yard at 1500 Plessis Rd. over the next few years. The City has also completed a feasibility study for a new recreation centre on the land directly adjacent to the library, with talks of a rapid transit eastern corridor terminal located on site or nearby.
"You can see the transformation of this area," Nason said. "Our growing community needs these services. The heart of Transcona will always be downtown will, but this is in more of the middle of Transcona now."