A library designed to serve the needs of growing Jefferson County in the suburbs to the southeast of Denver is currently in the planning stage.
To be designed by the Snowmass Village-based F&M Architects, the one-story library is expected to cost nearly $30 million to build.
What is being described as a “destination library” will go up in the northwest corner of the county in the city of Arvada off of Candelas Parkway near West 92nd Drive on a nearly 10-acre currently vacant site.
Arvada is now the seventh most populous city in the Centennial State, growing from around 89,000 in the early 1990s to well over 125,000 today.
Public input is expected to be solicited later this year for what will most likely be a 30,000-square-foot facility. Reports indicate that an additional 150,000 square feet of library space may be built at a later date.
According to the Denver Business Journal additional features of the project may include tiered outside seating, as well as a “trail system, outdoor reading nooks, and a covered event space.”
If all goes as planned, work on the new library, which would be a part of the Jefferson County Public Library system, could begin sometime next year, with an anticipated 2026 completion date.
Reflecting the growth of Arvada and the surrounding area, the Jefferson County library system is today the third largest such system in the state with eleven individual libraries.
By Garry Boulard
