Rehoboth library buys Warrington Rd. land

Years in the making, Rehoboth Beach Public Library officials have purchased the Warrington Road land where the second facility will be located.

The library went to settlement Nov. 19, said Kay Wheatley, library board president. It’s a 5-acre piece of land that cost about $2 million, she said.

In early 2023, library officials announced their intentions to renovate the existing downtown building and to also build a new library outside the city.

Located across from the Beebe Healthcare Specialty Surgical Hospital, the Warrington Road parcel was chosen for two reasons – location and parking. The library’s service area encompasses 32 square miles – Dewey Beach to Rehoboth Beach to Route 24 as far as Angola. A needs study conducted in late 2018 showed 90% of the library's users live more than two miles from the downtown location on Rehoboth Avenue. The new location will also allow the library to address parking needs the downtown location will never be able accommodate.

It’s going to be quite a while before the library approaches the county for any kind of permits or approvals, said Wheatley. However, there is work to be done, she said.

The funding for the Warrington Road building is a separate pot of money from the funding for the downtown location, said Wheatley. The library put a $500,000 down payment and got a loan for the rest, which means there will be a fundraising campaign beginning soon, because the goal is to pay off the loan before construction begins, she said.

Additionally, the library board plans to reconvene a task force, created to help library officials decide what services and functions the downtown location should provide, to begin hammering out details on how the Warrington Road building should look and support the community, said Wheatley. This time around, the library task force will be looking to get help from customers who live outside town, she said.

Downtown location work

In addition to finalizing the details on the land purchase, the library has been prepping the downtown location for its multimillion-dollar renovation. Work includes a second restroom, more employee space, a smaller circulation desk, a retractable wall added to the second-floor meeting space, a trio of four-person study rooms, and a larger meeting room that holds 16 people. The project calls for a complete update to the building’s facade and plantings. There will also be new HVAC systems installed.

In advance of the renovation, the library has been temporarily closed since early November to put some items into storage and to consolidate its collection while half the building is under construction.

Fencing around the library will be installed soon, and a temporary door will be installed for customers, said Wheatley.

As part of the renovation, plans call for increasing the size of the water line into the building from 1 inch to 1.5 inches, which means work will occur on Rehoboth Avenue and the sidewalk in front.

The city issued a press release saying that soon after Thanksgiving until just before completion, the sidewalk will have some part of it closed during portions of the project. The city is working with both the library and the library’s contractor, Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, to seek pedestrian-friendly and accessible routes during the project, said the release.

The library is expected to reopen Monday, Dec. 8, said Wheatley. The plan is to stay open as much as possible throughout construction, but there will be periodic closures, she said.

Renovation work is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.