NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The City of Newport News is moving forward with building a new Grissom Library in the northern part of the city.
The new 51,000-square-foot facility will be located just down the street from the current library, off Warwick Boulevard. It will be nearly three times as big as the current library, offering more space for meetings, learning, and reading.
The current Grissom Library in Denbigh has been open since 1977. Pete Manoso, who was dropping off and picking up books, has been visiting the location for decades.
"This library has really aged it's 1977 and I've been going to it for 47 years," Manoso said.
"It's going to be wonderful," he said of the new library. "It's going to have bigger everything."
To make way for the new library, the vacant Sherwood Shopping Center will soon be torn down. The existing police precinct at the site will remain operational.
Construction is expected to begin later this spring, and city leaders are hopeful there will be further development in the area with the library under construction until summer 2028.
The project is a $40 million investment, according to the city.
News 3 spoke with Mayor Phillip Jones about the project earlier this year as the city council received an update on the design.
"It's the most important thing when you look across what makes a strong community it's convening it's the ability to come together to have those meetings to read books so it's more than a library," Jones said.
"Libraries are more than just traditional libraries they are experiences," Vice Mayor Curtis Bethany said.
People checking out the library were glad to hear the project is happening. Michele Taylor, a Newport News native back in town visiting her son, agreed an upgrade is needed.
"It's a library and I'm all for libraries, but it looks exactly the same when I was in high school and I used to come here all the time, so to me Newport News needs a new library," Taylor said.
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