After more than five years of construction, a series of delays and ballooning costs, the return of the Mission branch of the San Francisco Public Library is in sight.
The 110-year-old building, one of seven libraries deemed a San Francisco landmark, will re-open in the spring of 2026, said Andrew Sohn, a Department of Public Works architect and the project’s manager.
The Mission branch, 300 Bartlett St. at 24th Street, has been closed for renovation since March 2020, though construction did not start until August 2023.
Standing outside the 1915 building on a recent Tuesday, Sohn took a long look at the building and said he feels positive about the new timeline: “You can see that we’re getting there.”
Sohn admits to having a passion for libraries: He’s an architect with nearly 40 years of experience, much of it working on civic buildings, like the brutalist Wurster Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, or the historic Carnegie Chinatown public library.
“They’re great spaces for the broader community,” he said. “I mean, there’s nothing not to like about libraries.”
The Mission Branch will see its staircase on the 24th Street reinstalled after being removed in 1997, and the restoration of its original entrance on 24th Street. Inside, the renovation will create a new teen area, a children’s area, a community room and two additional bathrooms, bringing the grand total to five.
The project will also include earthquake retrofitting and end the library’s use of natural gas, outfitting the space with solar panels.
But it hasn’t been cheap or expedient. When the city first unveiled the renovation plans in 2018, costs were pegged at $19.8 million, and the construction timeline was between 18 to 24 months.
The costs later rose to roughly $23 million, and again to $34 million by the spring of 2023 as a result of inflation, shortages in the supply chain, and the complexity of the project, according to a project update from the city.
The city only broke ground in 2023 and though renovations were expected to be completed by summer 2025, Mission Local reported last year that the construction was again delayed by months due to neighbors’ concerns about over “shoring” and “pinning” of the structure.
The vibration-monitoring plan during demolition, unforeseen field conditions requiring additional structural design and delays by PG&E in de-energizing the electrical vault also played a role in the delays.
Sohn described the project as one of the most difficult he’s encountered in his career because of unforeseen issues the crew encountered inside the walls and under the earth. At one point, the construction timeline was also delayed when the city had to find a new waterproofing subcontractor who had the right certification.
Still, Mission residents can expect to see a familiar, albeit restored, version of the building they once loved. Crews maintained nearly every historic aspect of the branch during the construction. Local companies restored windows and terra cotta in the building.
Upon reopening, Sohn said, Mission residents will experience a library like they have never seen.
“It’s kind of a stuffy little old library,” Sohn said. “But now when you see it, you’ll see that it’s not.”
So many happy hours spent here with a little one who loved books, from 2011 – 2020. Looking forward to the reopening!
I’m usually on team “SF is too slow at everything” but they found unexpected earthquake problems in one of the neighborhood’s few genuinely historic buildings.
Also, very weird to read an article about a project that started in March 2020 not mention the pandemic. I realize we’ve collectively decided to memory-hole it but c’mon.
DPW + PGE = WTF FUBAR POS
Who is the architect of this library renovation project? This city employee shown in this article is not. The city even does not bother to include this important information in the article.
DPW uses staff architects for most projects.
That’s actually not true for big renovations.
$34m as of Spring 2023, so probably $40m+ by now? To renovate, what, 7500k sqft? In what universe are we celebrating 5 year long, $5k/sqft construction projects for tiny libraries? That is insane.
They should just stop work and build an Ikea, good point.
What’s history preservation when there’s cheap deforestation?
At $5000/sqft it must’ve been a pretty crappy preservation job. I personally don’t think history has been adequately preserved unless we’re spending $10000/sqft. La Mission has been neglected for too long!
I’m excited to come back to an improved library space and hope that those bathrooms remain sanitary for children
I for one can’t wait to bathe there.
I bet Donald Trump couldn’t have done it any cheaper or faster … only difference . He wouldn’t have paid the contractors . Can’t wait for it to open . Huge asset for the community .
Every time I walk by it, I see it as an example of San Francisco’s dysfunction. It’s just one single building renovation and it has dragged on for YEARS. In China they would have knocked it down and built a better new one within 3 months. Even in Europe this job would be done by now.
What’s taking so long? It’s ridiculous.
Geez, one more reason not to live in China!
Such a beautiful building. Can’t wait to see it firsthand!
I assure you the average Chinese neighborhood where home prices are $1m for a one bedroom look WAY nicer with more beautiful buildings than the Mission, which is mostly a dump. This block of Bartlett often has people dropping deuces on the street and is a block away from a semi-permanent stolen goods market.
Ah yes, the “crime” narrative. Roll that beautiful bean footage.
Narrative? Have you ever walked down Mission St? This has to be a joke.
The “better” one they’d have built in China would have collapsed in the next earthquake, of course. And the people responsible for the shortcuts would have got away with it because they are part of the communist party.
Everyone seems to be pinning this on the City, but there’s a big “Amoroso” sign out front. Have they ever finished a job on time? Every City job, including Hetch Hetchy, has gone seriously sideways; yet somehow the City keeps awarding them contracts.
If the city’s contracting process keeps selecting dysfunctional GCs for 8 figure projects, that’s on the city.
100% agree. This project has been woefully mismanaged. It shouldn’t have sat empty for this long.
They have Public Libraries in Beijing? Any non-Party books? No?
Ok then.
Beijing built a 10x bigger library for less than half the $ per square foot designed by international architecture firm Snøhetta in 4 years during the peak of the pandemic. This is in a country that had far more severe pandemic lockdown restrictions than we did. Few places where I encounter people more ignorant and confident than the ML comments section.
“Architectural preservation” is a rich-person scam for less than a dozen people who care about buildings, at the expense of thousands of people who need to use those buildings.
Not to mention at taxpayer expense. Some rich guy who likes buildings could pay for this, and get it done more efficiently. Instead they manage to get us to pay for their niche obsession.
This is a library. It’s not nationally important or even locally important. It’s just old.
What the Mission District’s kids need is a space to read and learn. That just isn’t important to architectural preservationists. What they care about are external columns that most of us haven’t even noticed. “Screw the kids: THEIR kids can use the library, if it’s open by then.”
Ah the millenial argument – anything not made in the last 5 years is too old and therefore not Skibidi. Got it.
Ah the boomer argument: $5,000/sqft is a reasonable price to pay for a daytime homeless shelter that occasionally rents out books as long as it’s someone else’s taxes paying for it.
You think we don’t pay taxes just like you, why?
Are your taxes special?
Nobody “likes” every single thing SF does, but what’s your argument against preserving historic grand buildings? They’re too expensive so we should what, knock them and build boring glass boxes (at the cost of Millions also) without character and with no regard for preserving SF history?
Where did you say you were from?
I forgot, “Jake T” the online yuckster decides for all of us which buildings are “grand” or worth preserving. I guess he’s used to getting whatever he wants, thanks Jake’s Mom for entitling the next generation…
You should think about moving if you don’t like a city with older buildings being preserved.
Seriously.
Because Boomers are largely property owners benefitting from huge Prop 13 breaks. The ones who aren’t are benefitting from cheap rent control that every young person suffers from. On top of that, they get massive benefits income transfers from SS and Medicare from unfunded programs, drawing benefits much greater than what they paid in. And don’t get me started on those with pensions that the public will be paying for for decades to come.
Mission library is not a grand building. It is tiny and forgettable. At $5k/sqft you could demolish it and build a starchitect masterpiece in a place with reasonable building laws. There is no reason some insane neighbors worried about underpinning should’ve held up this project. I’m sure there were a thousand pointless costs incurred like it.