Detroit’s Downtown Development Authority on Wednesday unanimously approved up to $3 million in funding to cover the costs to update and reopen the Rose and Robert Skillman Branch of the Detroit Public Library.

Sitting in the shadow of the Hudson’s Detroit development at 121 Gratiot Ave., the branch closed with several others in the city in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and has remained closed during construction at the Hudson’s site.

With completion of Hudson’s Detroit on the horizon, the Skillman Branch is expected to open later this year or early next, Antonio Brown, CFO of the Detroit Public Library, told the DDA at its Wednesday afternoon board meeting.

Skillman is one of two of the system’s 22 branches that are temporarily closed, according to the Detroit Public Library website. The other is the Monteith branch on Kercheval Avenue near Chalmers Street on Detroit’s east side.

The Detroit Building Authority will receive the DDA funding to complete the updates on behalf of Detroit Public Library.

Renovations at the Skillman Branch will include HVAC updates and improvements to the library’s cyber café or computer room. But most of the work will focus on the historic building’s exterior, adding new windows to replace more than a dozen that are broken, roof work, landscaping, a new walkway and porch and exterior lighting, Brown said.

“We’re looking to do most of those things externally, so our little bitty library branch that (sits) next to this massive structure will be just as beautiful,” he said. “If you can imagine having a cup of coffee outside in the lawn area, watching people go in and out of the Gucci store, that’s kind of like what we envision and having some exterior programming as well.”

Brown expects annual operating costs for the branch will be in the area of $825,000 when it opens.

The library is in good shape from an operation standpoint, with funding for staff and investments in the things that the public needs like computers and access to Wi-Fi, electrical outlets and information, he said. 

“And we’ll be right downtown, and I think it’ll prove to be a significant and important investment, especially as we continue to have visitors and people moving in downtown, they’ll have a downtown library branch,” Brown said.

Called the Downtown Library when it opened in January 1932, the Skillman Branch was renamed to honor a gift to the library from the Skillman Foundation.

The Detroit Public Library is an independent municipal corporation that is connected to the city. It is required to submit a capital plan to the city, Brown said, noting the library system is in the initial stages of revamping its strategic plan with capital as a component of the plan.

“We have not built a library branch in the city of Detroit since 1984 … you can’t have a 21st century city without a 21st century library system and education system, period,” Brown said.

“We want to be lockstep with the city and our capital plan to see where the investment should be made, but we have lofty goals of building branches within this next millage.”

— Crain’s Detroit Business reporter Anna Fifelski contributed to this report.