People will be excited with exterior of new Charlottetown library, says project manager

Exterior work on Charlottetown's new public library, which will include a terraced area with seating, is expected to begin this summer.

The Charlottetown Area Development Corporation (CADC), which is managing the $16-million project, put out a call for tenders on the weekend for the outside of the Dominion Building where the new library will be located.

Ron Waite, general manager of the CADC, said the exterior work will include bringing the front of the building closer to the sidewalk. There will be a café where people can relax and read.

"I think that people will be very excited with the new look of the front of the building," he said.

"We want to get that done during the warmer and better weather months in the summertime."

Waite said the Dominion Building, across the street from the Confederation Centre of the Arts where the current library is located, will give the new library more visibility and create a "certain vibe" for downtown.

"Hopefully, just in conjunction with the Confed Centre and with the Guild and with everything around it, it creates a fairly nice cultural hub," he said.

Waite said the library will be completed in phases, with each phase going to tender. He said COVID-19 has slowed down some of the project, and tenders for the interior work will go out by the end of this month or early in August.

The library is scheduled to be complete by this time next year.

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