$3.8M Grant Funds New Library

SAN LEANDRO, CA-The California Public Library Construction and Renovation Board has awarded $3.8 million to San Leandro’s Manor Community Branch Library to build a new facility.

The new 19,500-sf facility will be built next to the existing 50-year-old library and will include a homework area, computer center and tutoring rooms. Construction on the project, expected to cost about $6 million, is set to begin in July.

Assemblywoman Ellen M. Corbett, D-San Leandro, says the existing library, a 2,100-sf, converted duplex built in 1953, is inadequate for the 28,000 residents who live in the library’s service area.

The grant was made Thursday pursuant to the Library Bond Act of 2000, which was created by the passage of Proposition 14, a statewide bond measure approved by the voters in March 2000. The act authorized the sale of $350 million of general obligation bonds for the purpose of public library construction and renovation.