After several years of planning and fundraising, the new, state-of-the-art North Shore Library building has an opening date: Feb. 2, 2026.
The new $8.2 million library, located north of West Brown Deer Road between Interstate 43 and North Port Washington Road, will replace the existing facility in Glendale at 6800 N. Port Washington Road, which staff have said is outdated and overburdened.
The building is part of Bayside’s One North Development, which also includes The Symphony Apartments and retail spaces.
While the new library opens in February, a grand opening celebration will be held in mid March, Library Director Rhonda Gould told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The library is on track to obtain occupancy permitting in December, Gould said. Construction crews are currently painting, installing fixtures, cabinetry and the ceiling grid, and will soon lay the carpeting.
The current building will close for a few days in late November to remove and refurbish shelving, she said.
The Glendale location will officially close Dec 15.
In May, elected officials in Glendale, River Hills, Bayside and Fox Point ― the four communities which would use the new building ― approved an agreement to cover the project’s fundraising gap, estimated to be at least $1.8 million and at most $2.5 million, depending on the outcome of a legal dispute over some donation funds pledged to the new building.
Though the library is opening soon, the library’s fundraising foundation continues to refuse to turn over the $800k it is holding, Bayside Village President Eido Walny said.
Contact Claudia Levens at clevens@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @levensc13.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: North Shore Library’s new building in Bayside will open on Feb. 2, 2026
Reporting by Claudia Levens, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
