Downtown Fort Worth is getting a new library after the council approves the $6.4 million purchase

The Fort Worth City Council unanimously approved the $6.4 million purchase of the Center For Transforming Lives building to be the future home of the downtown library branch.

“We’re finally going to have a downtown library again,” said Council Member Elizabeth Beck, whose district includes the urban core. “It’s long overdue.”

Downtown has been without a traditional library branch since June 2023, after the library building at 505 W. Third St. it was sold to Dallas-based Dart Interests for $18 million. The developer is considering a 20-story tower on the site.

The city was in talks to lease an 8,700-square-foot space at 100 Main St. in September 2023, but those negotiations failed.

The building proposed for the new downtown branch is owned by the nonprofit Center for Transforming Lives – formerly known as YWCA Fort Worth & Tarrant County. The group works with women and children struggling with poverty and homelessness and is building a larger campus at 3001 S. Riverside Drive.

Beck celebrated the purchase, noting that the non-profit organization will use proceeds from the sale to help build its new campus.

The city’s library department is proposing to use funds from the sale of the old downtown library building to finance the $6.4 million purchase, along with upgrades, according to a library spokesman.

Downtown residents will still be able to use the Express Library branch during the renovations. It is in an office of about 100 square feet in the city hall building at 200 Texas St.