Books By the Lake?

Austinites who frequent the Town Lake shores may be in for a nice change of scenery - half a decade from now. Pending a vote by the City Council this afternoon and public approval later this year, the John Henry Faulk Central Library at Eighth and Guadalupe is slated to be replaced by a brand new 300,000 sq ft facility where the Green Water Treatment Plant now resides, mere blocks west of City Hall on Cesar Chavez. The existing central library site will most likely be allocated for use by the Austin History Center.

According to the Statesman, the treatment plant - which sits on an enormous slice of prime real estate adjacent to the new Second Street development - was already scheduled to be shut down and moved downstream. The City Council and private developers envision using the majority of the lot space for mixed-use purposes, which would undoubtedly include one or several new loft projects and (we're hoping) boutique stores - tax revenues from these businesses and residences would ideally serve to provide a portion of the library's maintenance cost.

But in order to get the site started at all, Austin voters will need to approve a $90 million spending budget - cut from $106.9 million in a previous referendum - this November, and the project's proponents need to come up with a viable site design so that they can approach private donors for additional funding capital. Coupled with the ongoing development across the way at Palmer Events Center, it looks like Town Lake is in for quite a metropolitan upgrade in the not-so-distant future - assuming, of course, that the public gets behind this initiative.