Southdale Library building project

New construction

Resuming 2023

About the project

Built in 1971, Southdale Library serves the residents of Edina, Bloomington, Richfield and Minneapolis with its extensive collections, meeting spaces, and community-responsive programming. In addition to the Library, the 7.69-acre site previously also housed a Resident & Real Estate Service Center (relocated to Southdale Center in 2016) and district courts (relocated to other county facilities in 2019). Planning for a new library building began in 2015, was paused in 2020, and resumed in 2023. Hennepin County will build a new library on the existing site.

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Library facts

Southdale continues to be one of the busiest libraries in the Hennepin County system:
  • 4th most visited library in the Hennepin County system, welcoming approximately 185,000 visitors in 2022
  • 6th highest volume of physical checkouts, more than 250,000 first-time checkouts in 2022
  • 7th highest volume of Wi-Fi connections, more than 225,000 sessions in 2022
  • 2nd highest in information counts, second only to Minneapolis Central Library
 

Redevelopment history

2015: County board briefing to discuss relocation of the service center, courts, and reconstruction of the Southdale Library
2016: Service center relocates to Southdale Mall
2016-2018: Series of public meetings to look at library functionality and adjacent site uses
2018: County board briefing on Southdale site re-development, including selling a portion of the current site
2019: County moves Court operations out of Southdale Regional Center
2019: County explores relocating library to the Southdale Mall
2020: Uncertainty caused by the pandemic pauses relocation activities to Southdale Mall
2022: Decision made to rebuild on the current site
2023: Planning & design of the new Southdale Library begins

News

September 14, 2023

Southdale Library community meeting engages residents in planning for new building

Hennepin County Library hosted a community meeting at Southdale Library Thursday, August 31, as part of a series of events to engage the public in the upcoming new build project.

August 10, 2023

Southdale Library community meeting planned for Aug. 31

A public meeting will be held at the library on Thursday, August 31, from 6-7:30 p.m.

December 21, 2022

Southdale Library planning will resume in 2023

Southdale Library planning will resume in 2023 and will include building on the existing site.