Middletown will be the site of newest New Castle County Southern Library

Middletown's new library will be built near Silver Lake Elementary school.

County officials announced Monday that the $24 million, 25,000-square-foot library will open sometime in 2021 on a portion of the Promenade property on Main Street (Del. 299) and Catherine Street.

Delaware Sen. Stephanie Hansen, D-Middletown, said people in the area would best know the location as the "Middletown Stonehenge" because of the concrete sewer connectors and pipes dotting the landscape on the property.

New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer said he is committed to expediting the project because people have been asking for it for years, and because the area south of the C&D Canal is growing so quickly.

The library will fulfill New Castle County's years-long commitment to building a new state-of-the-art library to serve the fastest growing region of the county.

"When I knocked on doors three years ago in Middletown, residents felt like they weren't getting value for their dollar," Meyer said. "Where we located the library is a sensitive topic in these parts. We listened."

Meyer said in the last three months, more than 990,000 materials have been checked out of New Castle County libraries system-wide and 8,071 new library cards have been issued in that time.

When the announcement was made Monday at the current Appoquinimink Library in Middletown, most of the 100 people there applauded the choice.

Delaware State Librarian Annie Norman said that libraries are a reflection of growth in community development and Middletown has grown at a great rate in the past decade.

She said the Southern Library will be built to expand with the future growth of Middletown as well.

The Southern Library is the final element of the first Library Master Plan, which established site selection criteria. That criteria included finding a high visibility and central location with adequate parking and ease of accessibility.

Middletown Mayor Ken Branner welcomed the choice.

“It’s a great location and a great fit for Middletown,” he said. “We’re all about partnerships and it is great to finally be able to partner with New Castle County.”

The Southern Library will replace the 7,000-square-foot Appoquinimink Library, which is in a building on North Broad Street, and has an additional 3,000-square-feet of space for an activity center.

The county has signed a letter of intent to purchase approximately 8 acres of land. Approval by the County Council will still be needed before it's bought..

A combination of town, county, state and private funds will pay for the library design and construction. The state and county governments have each appropriated $5 million in capital funding to allow the project to move forward.

Library capital construction costs are split by the state and county governments.

Groundbreaking is expected to take place in 2019, county officials said. 

"This is a great example of inter-governmental cooperation," Hansen said. "We were very happy to put our money where our mouths are."

Reach Jerry Smith at jsmith17@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JerrySmithTNJ. 

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