The highly anticipated expansion of the Fayetteville Public Library is nearly completion, and the Startup Junkie team was recently given the opportunity to explore the facility’s offerings for area residents, including amenities to serve local entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The nearly $50 million project is expected to be complete by early 2021, making the public library approximately 170,000 square feet, doubling its size. The library stands to make a significant impact on area economic development, with a number of major free offerings to entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The expansion includes a commercial, permitted kitchen to produce food for caterers and food-related businesses, offer cooking classes, and film cooking demonstrations. The library will also feature a state-of-the-art recording studio, podcast booths, a music production space, and video recording space equipped with green screens. It features an advanced maker space and a virtual reality workforce training space for equipment certifications, CDL coursework and more.
The library expansion also offers a great deal of opportunities for creatives, including a photography studio and darkroom for general photography and white boxes and lighting for photographing products for e-commerce sales. The library will feature an arts room, dance instruction room and more.
Also included in the library expansion are smaller meeting spaces for corporate and small business meetings with floor to ceiling windows with incredible views of Fayetteville and premium technology access.
The expansion features a large auditorium equipped to host large-scale theatrical performances, concerts and events. The space seats 750 and can accommodate 1,000 standing attendees. The state-of-the-art event venue includes a control room, dressing rooms and a green room.
Students of all ages will also have access to meeting rooms for tutoring, preschool, grade-school, and teens-only wings of the library feature meeting rooms, library materials and resources. Patrons to the library will also enjoy new outdoor spaces for concerts, receptions, dining, meetings, and more, while enjoying the beautiful Ozark Mountain views. They can also dine at the new expanded coffee shop and dining space.
See the work in progress below:
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