East Lee’s Summit Library Groundbreaking

Friday, May 10, 2019, our team broke ground on a new library in East Lee’s Summit. Located at SE Battery Drive and SE Blue Parkway in Lee’s Summit, MO. The New Branch will be completed in late 2020.  The branch will be a new 18,500 square-foot library with many new amenities and technology.

Mid-Continent Public Library currently has two other branches in Lee’s Summit—off Oldham Parkway and Colbern Road—and collectively the two circulated more than one million items during the last fiscal year (putting them at #1 and #3 in terms of circulation out of MCPL’s 31 branches). Additionally, they had more than 330,000 visitors in their buildings last year. The new East Lee’s Summit branch will help the Library better meet the needs of this growing community.

Serving more than 800,000 people in Jackson, Clay, and Platte Counties, Mid Continent Public Library (MCPL) is the largest library system in the Kansas City Metro Area and one of the largest in the country. Over the last year, the design team of Sapp Design Architects and Helix Architecture + Design has been working with MCPL to prepare for the official launch of their capital program, which kicked off in May.

Funded by the overwhelming passage of Proposition L in 2016, MCPL is investing $113 million dollars into enhancing all 31 existing branches and constructing two new locations. Of the 31 existing branches, MCPL will be replacing four with new buildings, expanding three with substantial building additions and renovating all 24 others. While the upgrades at each branch vary based on individual community needs and the building’s current condition, the improvements will help ensure that branches serve the needs of modern library users.

Sapp and Helix are working collaboratively to bring the firms’ combined expertise with 21st-century libraries, architecture and interior design to each branch. As technology has increasingly become our conduit to knowledge, public libraries are evolving into community centers and cultural hubs that offer a wide variety of services and programs. MCPL and design team members from Helix and Sapp held a series of 29 public meetings to gather input from library users. These meetings helped inform the programs, spaces, and technologies that will be most impactful for each branch and the community it serves.

MCPL and the Sapp | Helix design team worked closely with Construction Manager, JE Dunn Construction to develop a phased approach to construction. Phase I projects, which kicked off in June, include the Blue Springs South Branch, Excelsior Springs Branch, Antioch Branch and Midwest Genealogy Center. Additional Phase I projects will kick-off this summer, including the Oak Grove, Weston, and Platte City branches. During the renovations, customers will be directed to alternate locations to conduct their Library business.