After nearly three years of construction, Multnomah County is ready to open the $163 million East County Library.

The library branch is the flagship project of the $387 million library bond that voters approved in November 2020. Located in downtown Gresham, the library is meant to bring services to East County residents who live far from the Central Library in downtown Portland.

“This is a palace for the people,” said Katie O’Dell, the library system’s capital bond deputy director.

At 95,000 square feet, the facility is the county’s second-largest branch, behind only the Central Library, which occupies about 120,000 square feet. East County Library will offer 200,000 books, CDs, DVDs and other materials to the public when it opens on Saturday.

It’s the largest of 18 library projects funded by the 2020 bond, which also produced six new libraries, 11 renovations and an operations center. Two projects — in the St. Johns and Belmont neighborhoods —remain to be completed.

Fortis Construction served as general contractor for East County Library, with a design by Holst Architecture of Portland and Adjaye Associates (the international firm left the project in 2023 after founder David Adjaye was accused of sexual misconduct).

The design relies heavily on mass timber, including 1,200 glulam beams and 3,000 cross-laminated timber panels sourced from around the Pacific Northwest.

The project arrives on time and on budget, county officials said.

“Construction went so, so smoothly,” library bond spokeswoman Liz Sauer said.

A TriMet park-and-ride facility formerly occupied the new library’s site at 475 N.W. Division St., pinched between Gresham City Hall and the Gresham Station shopping complex. TriMet still owns a 25,000-square-foot parcel on which it intends to build a transit-oriented project.

The new library branch has ample mass transit access, with a MAX Blue Line station slightly north of the building, and a TriMet Frequent Express bus line on its Division Street frontage.

The East County Library is more than four times larger than the former Gresham branch, with a collection to match. The city of Gresham purchased the former library branch site at 385 N.W. Miller Ave. after a public process.

The East County Library has a diverse collection featuring materials in Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese — all languages commonly spoken in the Gresham area. A world languages section includes books in many more languages.

“I would say we have a more diverse collection than our other library branches,” Director of Libraries Annie Lewis said.

The new library also has state-of-the art technology, including the Intelligent Material Management System, or IMMS, from Utah company SirsiDynix. The system tracks bookshelf offerings and zips books around the library using an extensive conveyor belt.

Other facilities include an auditorium for events and a maker space that offers a laser printer and cutter, sewing machines and more.

Tucked in a sunlit corner, a recording studio features high-end Fender and Yamaha guitars, a drum set and a mixing board.

“Everything in there is gear industry professionals would use,” said Jody Redifer, audio-video program specialist.

The library will open at 10 a.m. on Saturday, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m.

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Holst Architecture, Adjaye Associates and MultiCultural Collaboration have been selected to design Multnomah County Library‘s new east county flagship, a 95,000-square-foot facility that will serve the about 40 percent of Multnomah County residents who live east of I-205.

After a multiphase request for proposals facilitated by Multnomah County’s Procurement team, the Library Capital Bond Program Management Office announced the team on Wednesday.

Of nine projects approved by voters in November 2020, the east county flagship will be an entirely new building from the ground up. The building will be on a scale similar to Central Library in downtown Portland, but with the accessibility and ease-of-use for all East County residents.

The prime architect of record is Holst Architecture. Holst has completed 11 major affordable housing and social service projects in East County, including The Nick Fish, which provides quality affordable housing in Portland’s Gateway Urban Renewal Area. Holst also designed the Rockwood Youth Campus, which brings together Open School, Rockwood Boys & Girls Club and New Avenues for Youth in a unique non-profit campus concept that provides vital services to the East County community. Kim Wilson, Holst principal and owner, will serve as the principal-in-charge for the project.

“As a team, we’re passionate about projects that center and highlight the power and wisdom of communities, and we know the new flagship library can fulfill all these possibilities and more,” Wilson said in a news release. “We believe this should be a space that sparks creativity and imagination — a space that, like a good book, continues to give, unlocking new ideas and connections.”

Joining Holst on the project as design architect is Adjaye Associates, an internationally acclaimed architecture firm known for its work on recent projects, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., and the Winter Park Library & 91��Ƶ Center in Winter Park, Florida. The team from Adjaye is led by Sir David Adjaye OBE, an award-winning Ghanaian-British architect.

“I am humbled and honored to be selected as design architect for this precedent setting library project,” Adjaye said in the news release. “Together with Holst and MultiCultural Collaborative, we will work together and in close, continued dialogue with the local community of East County to design a lifelong learning facility that instills a sense of collective wonder and pride.”

MultiCultural Collaborative, which helps communities of color amplify their voices in policy and decision-making discussions, will also play a key role on the project. MCC is particularly knowledgeable about the work of the library as it organized and led focus groups for the 2016 Framework for Future Library Spaces, which has closely informed the work for the Library Capital Bond Projects.

The Engagement and Design Integration team from MultiCultural Collaborative includes Anita Yap, engagement and integration lead; Nikoyia Phillips, equity and engagement strategist; and Suenn Ho, design integration lead.

“As a women-owned, BIPOC team we will serve as role models to inspire BIPOC youth and community members to see themselves as the experts in equity focused design,” the MCC team noted in the news release.

On July 8, Multnomah County Library and TriMet announced an initial agreement to begin a due diligence period of 120 days to negotiate the library’s prospective purchase of the Gresham City Hall Park and Ride as the site for the East County Flagship.

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