Construction getting under way for McAllen main library

McALLEN — Fifteen-year-old Lauren Elise Galvan helped design McAllen’s new $27 million public library.

The teen spoke at a news conference Thursday morning where the city of McAllen announced the start of construction at the site of the former Walmart building on the corner of Nolana and North 23rd Street.

The city boasts that the future 123,000-square-foot facility may become the nation’s largest single-floor public library. The next largest, officials say, is the Johnson County Central Resource Library in Overland Park, Kan., at 86,000 square feet.

The new library will be more than three times bigger than the 40,000-square-foot library that opened in 1950 at 601 N. Main St.

McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez said the city was very cautious in the planning stages.

“When you’re going to build a facility, especially a facility of this size, you can’t make many mistakes,” he said. “We discern, study, we disagree with one another, and we go back to the drawing board. We think about things.”

Elected officials, the library board and McAllen teenagers have been ironing out details since the city purchased the building in 2006 for $5 million.

District 3 City Commissioner Hilda Salinas joked about people asking her if the city was ever going to begin construction. She said it took about a year to design and was glad the project was moving forward.

As president of the Teen Advisory Council, Lauren was the voice for teens across the city when it came to deciding what the teen section of the library should look like.

“The Teen Advisory Council has met numerous times since our first meeting Aug. 9, 2007,” Galvan said to a group of more than a hundred people. “The growth of members is equivalent to the growth of participation and suggestions made by the city of McAllen’s youth.”

Galvan said surveys were distributed to students in all the city’s middle schools and high schools, where more than 1,000 had an opinion.

Planners chose a bright color scheme.

“We want the teen section to be a place where kids can go and hang out,” Galvan said.

Ramya Puttagunta, 13, is also a member of the council. She joined in May after most of the decisions had been made but said she was happy with what she saw.

“A lot of the designs and chairs and the colors that they picked I actually very much liked,” the teen said. “I would have picked them myself.”

The teen section will include an area where youth don’t have to worry about keeping quiet, Galvan said.

In addition, the library will house a cafe, a printing center, an auditorium, a quiet reading room and an art gallery, among other amenities.

The project plan also includes a complete makeover of the building’s grounds, which will have two water features, a learning trail, and extensive landscaping.

The library was designed by McAllen-based Boultinghouse Simpson Architects and Minneapolis-based MS&R. It is expected to be completed by summer 2011.

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Naxiely Lopez covers PSJA and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4434.