Plan for New Ladue Library Branch Advances
Date Posted: November 18, 2021
Posted In: Projects,
From St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The St. Louis County Library moved forward with plans for a new branch after the zoning and planning commission here on Wednesday approved a special use permit.
The library wants to demolish its existing building at 1640 South Lindbergh Boulevard, which was last updated in 1990, for a bigger, two-story branch that would house book collections, a history and genealogy collection, a small business center, an 800-person event space and outdoor plaza. The library’s administrative office, and most of the 160 employees, will move to a new facility in Frontenac this spring.
Ladue’s zoning and planning commission unanimously voted to recommend the city approve the project. The plan will go to the City Council for final approval, which could happen as early as next month. Construction could start this summer and last up to 16 months.
The plan for a new Ladue branch followed a lawsuit between the library and city of Frontenac over the size of the library’s development there at Clayton and Spoede roads. The two groups settled the suit last year. As part of that settlement, the library agreed to build a smaller administrative office building in Frontenac and move the history and genealogy center to Ladue.
The new Ladue branch is designed by Lamar Johnson Collaborative, the architecture arm of design-build firm Clayco.