Burbank unveils plans for new Library Civic Center, targets 2029 opening

Eric Lashley, Burbank’s library services director, and Houston Drumm of MOCA Services outlined plans March 10 for a new Library Civic Center intended to replace the city’s 1963 central library and serve as a regional destination.

The project as currently envisioned includes a roughly 97,500‑square‑foot building shared by the library and city offices (finance and management services), a 310‑stall parking structure and about one acre of primary open space with roughly 40,000 square feet of ancillary site work. Lashley said the site is planned across the street from the current library near Orange Grove, Glen Oaks, 3rd and Olive.

"Libraries are not about books. Libraries are about people," Lashley said, framing the project as a generational investment that will provide flexible spaces for programming, services and community events. The design sketches shown to the council include a grand, art‑filled lobby with a cafe, a large flexible auditorium, makerspaces and media labs for teens and local workers in the entertainment industry.

MOCA Services’ Houston Drumm said the city plans to deliver the work through a progressive design‑build contract. He said the city anticipates releasing a request for qualifications for the design‑build teams in May, with a design‑build contract under way by fall. "We're aiming for construction to break ground next summer and have the completion and public opening in 2029," Drumm said.

Drumm said the estimated design‑build contract is about $155 million, with $30–$35 million of additional owner costs (contingency, testing, FF&E, art and soft costs), for a total project cost the team estimates in the $185–$190 million range.

Design details include three main entrances (from the parking garage, Olive Street and the plaza), a four‑story library and office building (with library spaces occupying the plaza side across three levels), and a shared lobby to serve the building’s multiple tenants. The plan responds to a 23‑foot grade change across the site; Drumm said the plaza will likely be terraced to accommodate the topography.

Council members raised circulation and safety questions about where vehicles and deliveries would enter and how people would move from the garage to the library. Drumm said the team has hired a traffic consultant and has met with the fire chief; study results are expected in the coming weeks. "We've been meeting with the fire and planning and streets," he said, and staff will refine ingress and egress once the traffic study is complete.

The team reported extensive community outreach since October, with multiple workshops, pop‑ups and focus groups. Lashley said engagement included 2,525 workshop visitors, 12 guided tours, more than 6,200 pop‑up and focus‑group participants, and about 6,700 website visits in English, Armenian and Spanish; participants included teens, adults and seniors.

Next steps: staff will post the presentation and video on newburbanklibrary.com, release the RFQ in May, select a design‑build team by fall and move into design followed by a pre‑GMP phase before executing the construction agreement.