The New York Public Library’s Muhlenberg branch officially reopened its doors last month, following three years of construction.

“It was like this gaping hole in the community not to have a library here,” said Rebecca Sokolovsky, a Chelsea resident for more than 20 years. “There are other libraries that are in walking distance, but it’s just not the same as having it in the heart of your own community.”

The construction — which began in 2022 and was originally slated to be completed in 2023 — cost over $6 million, according to the CEO of NYPL, Anthony Marx, at a Sept. 19 ribbon-cutting event for the branch. The renovated library includes a new room for children’s programming and an upgraded elevator, HVAC and fire alarm system. The revamped building also offers free resources and classes, which are otherwise unaffordable to many people in the area, a fact that did not go unnoticed to several residents impacted by the construction delay.

“Kids need a place to go,” Chelsea resident Jennifer Ag said. “Not everybody can afford after-school programming. I mean, we really can’t.”

Ag said there had been many “false starts” in Muhlenberg Library’s construction timeline, but she looks forward to bringing her daughter to the cleaner and updated space.

Muhlenberg Library has free activities for children — including crafting, story time and music and movement classes — scheduled every weekday through October. Comparably, some nearby programs for infants and toddlers, such as Kids at Work NYC, can cost up to $50 a class, according to its website.

The reopening marks the end of a years-long construction saga. THE CITY reported in 2023 that plans to install fire sprinklers at Muhlenberg Libary had been in the works since October 2009.

In a live-streamed community board meeting in February, NYPL’s senior manager of government and community affairs, Frances Urroz, said the delays were due to the schedule and overlapping projects of the Department of Design and Construction. Additional delays occurred when it was discovered that the newly renovated elevator system was not working properly.

The Department of Design and Construction did not respond to requests for comment.

Once the design and construction department completed upgrades to the elevator, HVAC, fire systems and the building’s facade, NYPL installed new flooring, paint and furniture, according to Urroz.

“The only thing that we could do is sort of just to stay on it with the library and the city, and keep reinstating the importance,” said Josephine Ishmon, the co–chair of Community Board 4’s Arts, Culture, Education and Schools committee.

District 4 — where over 123,000 people reside, according to 2023 U.S. Census data — is home to Muhlenberg and one other library, the Columbus Library, 28 blocks uptown. Of the 12 community districts in Manhattan, District 4 has the fifth-highest number of residents per public library.

During the construction, residents had to travel outside of the district for certain library services.

A 20-minute walk from Muhlenberg Library is the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, which absorbed many of Muhlenberg’s patrons and staff, said NYPL spokesperson Connor Goodwin. Sokolovsky described the Heiskell library’s children’s room as “very small” and “not really enough for the population that needs to use it.”

The library’s closure impacted several patrons, including unhoused individuals in Chelsea, according to Linda Flores, the development and communications manager of St. Francis Friends of the Poor, a long-term residence for homeless people with severe mental illnesses that is a short walk from the library.

“With it being closed for a couple years now, our tenants really haven’t had a place to go to connect with the world in a lot of different ways,” Flores said, adding that around 60 tenants utilized the library’s resources prior to its closing.

St. Francis tenant Nicholas Jemerin said he had been “reading less, watching more TV” since Muhlenberg Library closed. He looks forward to returning and checking out fiction novels.

Kenneth Douglas, another tenant, said he will primarily visit the library for computer access.

Sam Helmick, the president of the American Library Association, believes having libraries in the community is important because they offer fair and equitable access to enrichment.

“It is one of the last places, maybe on the planet, where all people can come to improve their lives, to seek benefits and opportunity,” Helmick said.