San Diego's long-awaited central library was dedicated Saturday afternoon in front of thousands of area residents during its grand opening ceremony in Downtown San Diego.
The library, located at 330 Park Blvd., opened its doors for a special sneak peek event that began with a dedication ceremony at 11 a.m. Following the ceremony, a street festival and library tours were planned from noon until 6 p.m.
The library is scheduled to officially open Monday, Sept. 30 at 9:30 a.m.
According to those close to the project, 30 years of planning went into the $185 million building.
Construction began in 2010 and anticipation over its opening has been growing ever since.
The nine-story building spans 497,652 square feet and replaces the old Central library which closed its doors in June.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.2 million books are housed on the new library’s shelves, 58,000 of which are children’s titles, according to library officials.
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The library will offer iPads, Kindles, several rare books, and also special collections including one on baseball that’s believed to be the largest of its kind behind the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Beyond books, the building includes a career center , two-story charter high school, an auditorium for 350 people, an art gallery, and also an event space that could be used for weddings.
There's also one very unusual feature.
"We've got a three story gravity arch that is right above us that holds the six floors above and all the books because not every building could hold this weight," said Marion Ross Hubbard, a library spokeswoman.
