Park Slope panel moves to save Pacific Library

The Park Slope Civic Council wants to see the Pacific Branch Library designated a city landmark now that Brooklyn library officials are planning to sell the building and move the branch to the new Two Trees BAM development, Brownstoner reported.

Library officials decided to relocate the branch because of the poor condition of the building,  which borders Boerum Hill and Park Slope along Fourth Avenue. Repairs would cost $11 million; the building is valued at just $10 million, library official Josh Nachowitz said.

The branch is one of  18 Carnegie library branches in the city; the PSCC attempted to get a landmark designation for the building in 2004.

PSCC members want the Landmarks Preservation Committion to act because they argue that the building is in imminent danger of being sold and then demolished.

Besides requesting a city landmark designation, the PSCC is submitting an application to add the library to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2013 list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in the United States.

If sold the building is sold, Nachowitz said, the money would be used for interior build-out of the new branch at the Two Trees site. [Brownstoner] —Christopher Cameron