Ground broken on leisure library

Deck

A new library and community center, scheduled to open next year, will offer wireless Internet access, arts and crafts classes and a gym.

After more than a year of delays, construction is under way on Pinecrest’s new library and community center complex, located next to the lushly landscaped Pinecrest Gardens.

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need,” said Pinecrest Mayor Gary Matzner, quoting the great Roman orator and writer Cicero.

Matzner joined village and county officials for a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday at the site of the 30,000-square-foot project, originally scheduled to open this year, at 11000 Red Rd. About 40 students from the Palmetto Elementary School chorus sang for the crowd.

The community center will feature a gym, dance room, computer lab, meeting rooms and a baby-sitting service. Village Manager Peter Lombardi said craft, dance and other classes will be offered for a fee. Outside, there will be a field for picnics and sports. A popular water playground is already functioning.

The library will house about 30,000 books - the first of which Matzner donated Wednesday. It was self-published by his daughter, Alexander Matzner, a student at Maryland Institute College of Art, about The Gates art exhibit in Central Park.

The library also will have wireless Internet so visitors can use their laptops.

“When you walk in that facility, you will be able to patronize the library, go into a community center and take classes, go dance, then run out in the field, go in the gardens, take the kids to a water playground or go into an indoor theater,” Lombardi said. “It is a total recreation leisure service facility.”

In addition to the water playground, recent improvements include a new butterfly exhibit and fixes to a concession stand and walkways.

The village has partnered with the Miami-Dade Library system on the $6.7 million project. The library system will pitch in $3.58 million and run the library.

“It’s great to see the county and the village working together on such a worthwhile project,” Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez said.

Miami-Dade Library Director Raymond Santiago said the library is one of 11 being built around the county.

Plans for the project have been in the works for about four years, and construction was supposed to be completed by last month. Two busy hurricane seasons delayed work, and the village also had to find a new contractor. The buildings are expected to be finished next fall.

Photograph

Credit: Courtesy of the Kendall Camera Club/Village of Pinecrest.

“O LIBRARY”: Palmetto Elementary School’s chorus sings at the groundbreaking ceremony for Pinecrest’s new library, which will offer a host of recreational activities.