Tentative completion in late 2027
By Katherine Nettles
A new library is coming to the North Valley, and if all goes well it may be open next year. The Gunnison County Library District is beginning construction of a new library branch in the commercial district of Crested Butte South this spring, and the plan is to have the new building finished and operable sometime in late 2027. An affordable housing building is also planned for the site, to be constructed later as funding becomes available.
In a work session with Gunnison County commissioners this week, library district executive director Drew Brookhart shared the construction details and other updates regarding library users, electronic materials and a future building in CB South to provide affordable housing units.
The library district completed a new library in Gunnison in 2022 and, turning its focus toward improving public library facilities at the north end of the valley, purchased land in the CB South commercial district between Haverly Street and Gillaspey Avenue in 2024.
The district secured a $1 million grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) to fund the design, which is now almost complete. They have drilling for geothermal energy already in process on the site and expect to officially break ground in the next month or so.
The site plan for the parcel includes a nearly 10,000-square-foot library and an adjacent building with eight affordable housing units intended for library district employees and other local workers.
In December 2025 the library district raised $9 million to construct the new library using Certificates of Participation (COPs), but it has not yet secured funding to construct the housing units. The housing, once constructed, will include two three-bedroom units and six one-bedroom units.
Brookhart said the new branch will provide much needed community space, more materials and flexible meeting rooms.
“This library is a little bit different in its design than a traditional library. The main area is designed to be active and noisy with coworking space, people meeting, community gathering, children and teens. And then you go further into the library to have a quiet space.” He described a fireplace in the quiet area surrounded by comfortable chairs.
“It’s like a den kind of feeling, and those walls are all designed to block out the noise.”
There is a small meeting room planned, and some sound-proof two-person pods that will create a wall between the children’s library and the young adult library for people to take phone calls or have meetings. There will also be a large community room of about 915 square feet and a community kitchen with after-hours controlled access.
“There is a huge demand for groups that want to meet when we aren’t available to staff it,” said Brookhart.
There will be a pedestrian entrance on the south side of the building with a large porch and vestibule, then parking on the north side with another entrance there.
“We will have a little bit less space for physical items [in CB South] than in Gunnison,” he said. Comparatively, the Gunnison branch is about 15,000 square feet, and Brookhart said more of the administrative work can happen at the flagship space in Gunnison.
Commissioner Liz Smith commented that the new Gunnison Library has changed the way people meet in Gunnison in a powerful way. “It was very difficult before to find a place that was not very expensive to have a meeting,” she said. “It has really changed the way people organize and find community in Gunnison, so it’s really exciting to see how you’re envisioning bringing that further north in the valley.”
Brookhart said he expects a similar response in CB South.
The district contributed $282,879 to community enrichment programs such as adult English classes, CPR, driver’s license courses, citizenship preparation, free legal support, technology assistance, GED preparation/testing and Spanish language classes last year. “And the county’s electronic content is used by people all over the country,” Brookhart said of their extensive electronic access to material using the Hoopla and Libby apps.
The Old Rock Library in Crested Butte will remain in operation even after the new branch is complete, which commissioner Laura Puckett Daniels emphasized is important to people who appreciate the original structure and having a public library in the town of CB.