A new Miami housing project could cost the Allapattah library branch its home

Plans for a new affordable-housing complex in Miami include bad news for the Allapattah library branch, which rents space from the city at the planned development site and has been ordered to clear out later this year.

Last fall, Miami commissioners voted to terminate the rent-free Allapattah lease with Miami-Dade County’s library system, an agreement that dates back to the 1970s when the county agreed to take over all of Miami’s own libraries. The termination took effect in May, triggering a six-month window for the county to find a new location for the popular library branch. A county spokesperson said the city gave the Allapattah branch until Dec. 8 to vacate the premises.

“It’s a community resource for kids,” said Eileen Silio, president of the homeowners association for Melrose Park, a neighborhood within Allapattah. “A lot of the families here that don’t speak the language rely on the library for help with homework. ... There are people there they can ask for help.”

For Ester Gullatt, the library at 1799 NW 35th St. is a convenient spot for its tech offerings — including reliable Wi-Fi and mobile printing that lets her get a copy of a PDF that she can email from her home computer. “I’m saddened by the news,” she said. “I can’t believe it.”

Saint James housing project wants Allapattah library site

City commissioners approved canceling the branch’s lease at the same time they gave preliminary approval for a planned no-bid development deal between Miami and a nonprofit housing developer, Saint James Community Development Corp., for at least 150 apartments at the library site. The units would rent for “affordable” or “workforce” rents, which are capped by a formula tied to income limits for renters.

Community groups are organizing to save the branch. Patrick Gajardo, president of the Allapattah Neighborhood Association, called the library essential. “We don’t have a community center in Allapattah,” he said. The library “is super popular — especially with our kids.”

Students at Miami Jackson Senior High launched an online petition to save the library branch, which sits half a block away from campus. Students enrolled in an advocacy program with the Allapattah Collaborative CDC, a community group, are organizing a gathering in front of the library at 3 p.m. Wednesday to get more signatures for the petition drive and spread the word about the library’s planned eviction.

“When I was a freshman, I went to the library every day,” said Fernando Salgado, 18, a senior and part of the Allapattah Collaborative fellowship program on community advocacy. “I didn’t have a computer. I’d do my homework there, and go home.”

Library a popular hangout for Miami Jackson High students

This year, Salgado and classmates were regulars at the library’s computer center while working on a group chemistry project, enjoying later hours than what they could get at school. “It’s always been part of my routine,” he said.

Allapattah’s library is one of the oldest branches in the county, and the first built by the city of Miami’s library board in the 1960s, according to a county history. Miami turned over the site and several others to Miami-Dade under the original transfer deal a decade later. The county was planning to keep the Allapattah library at the site for the long run, and in 2019 completed renovations budgeted at more than $1 million.

Leila Khalil, a spokesperson for the county library system, said there were no plans yet for where the branch will go. “We are working with the City to determine if this development could be contemplated to include a replacement Allapattah Branch Library and/or if the City will provide an alternate site in the neighborhood for the County to replace this branch location,” she said in a statement.

Miami-Dade already has library branches on the ground floor of two affordable-housing buildings. So far, Miami hasn’t required library space from Saint James.

Alex Diaz de la Portilla, the city commissioner whose district includes the library site, said he would insist Saint James build a replacement facility for the branch. “A modern library will be built by the developer ... or no development will happen,” Diaz de la Portilla said in a text message Monday. “No library equals no project.”

The Rev. Jimmie Williams, head of the Saint James development group, an offshoot of the church he also leads, did not respond to a question about whether the planned project could include space for a library. In a brief text exchange, Williams said the organization was limited in what it could say because of ongoing negotiations with Miami on the project.

In an email, Miami spokeswoman Stephanie Severino said the city’s real estate division has given the library six months to vacate “and the City will work with them and try to be a resource in finding a new location.”

This story was originally published June 8, 2021 at 5:05 PM.