Brooklyn Public Library will replace its Sheepshead Bay and Homecrest branches with one new library on Coney Island Avenue

Sheepshead Bay is getting a new library, and losing two old ones. Brooklyn Public Library announced that it will build a new, permanent Sheepshead Bay Library at 2685 Coney Island Ave., set to open in 2030. It will replace the neighborhood's two current branches, Homecrest and Sheepshead Bay, which sit less than a mile apart.

Why BPL is consolidating

Both branches are in leased buildings, among the last leased branches in the borough. That makes them ineligible for city capital money, and BPL says both are in poor shape. Building problems have forced several unplanned closures at Homecrest over the past three years, and fixing it would cost at least $16 million, Brooklyn Paper reported. Only about a third of the Sheepshead Bay branch is ADA accessible.

The deadline is Homecrest's lease. It ends on June 30, 2029, and the landlord won't renew it, according to BPL's project page.

What's planned

BPL found four adjacent commercial buildings for sale at 2685 Coney Island Ave. and bought them for just under $5 million, according to records cited by Brooklyn Paper. The library says the new branch will be:

• Much larger than either of the current branches, with a layout designed with the community;
• Fully ADA accessible, which matters in a neighborhood with many older residents;
• Owned by BPL, so it can get city capital money for repairs and maintenance.

Timeline

• Winter 2026: BPL hires a consultant to gather community input on design.
• 2027: BPL names an architect.
• 2028: Construction starts.
• 2029: Homecrest Library, 2525 Coney Island Ave. at Avenue V, closes when its lease ends June 30.
• 2030: The current Sheepshead Bay Library closes when its lease ends June 30, and the new library opens.

BPL has not said whether there will be a gap in service between the closures and the opening. Both branches run busy programs and lend books in English, Russian, Chinese, Urdu, Hebrew, Spanish and other languages, Brooklyn Paper noted.

Council Member Inna Vernikov welcomed the plan, saying in BPL's announcement that a larger, accessible library would serve the neighborhood better than two aging branches with repeated closures. BPL calls the project part of its biggest wave of library building since the Carnegie era. Elsewhere in the system, the Walt Whitman Library is set to reopen later this month and the Carroll Gardens Library in December, Brooklyn Paper reported.