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Officials gathered at the North Portland Library on Friday to celebrate ground being broken on a project to update the facility.

The project includes renovating the existing building at 512 N. Killingsworth St. and constructing two additions 鈥� a dedicated space for a Black Cultural Center and a staff space expansion 鈥� to increase the square footage from 8,700 to 10,200.

鈥淚n addition to those two expansions, we鈥檙e completely renovating and seismically upgrading the rest of the building,鈥� Kevin Kearns, Multnomah County鈥檚 project manager for the North Portland Library project, said during a meeting of the county鈥檚 board of commissioners on Thursday.

During that meeting, the board approved a resolution for a guaranteed maximum price of slightly more than $8 million for project construction. Andersen Construction was selected as construction manager/general contractor.

LEVER Architecture partnered with Noll & Tam Architects of Berkeley, California, on the project鈥檚 design. That phase is now complete.

New building features will include a dedicated children鈥檚 area, a new welcome desk at the center of the main floor, two new restrooms, and an exterior walkway that will allow after-hours access to the Black Cultural Center and the updated community room.

The project鈥檚 budget is $12.8 million. Funding is coming from a 2020 bond measure approved by voters in 2020. The North Portland Library renovation and expansion is the fourth major project within the bond program to advance.

The library shut down in April to prepare for expansion. Construction mobilization will begin in June. Construction is expected to finish in June 2024. The library is scheduled to reopen that fall.