Hall-Perrine Foundation gives $3 million for new Cedar Rapids library

The Hall-Perrine Foundation of Cedar Rapids has announced yet another award for a city building project. This time, the foundation is giving $3 million to the Cedar Rapids Public Library Foundation, an amount which equals about half of the foundation's fundraising goal for the city's $45-million library project.

The library foundation already has about $1 million in other donations in hand. The bulk of the building project is being paid for with Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster payments, a state I-JOBS grant and about $4 million in city local-option sales tax revenue.

Earlier this month, the board of the Hall-Perrine Foundation awarded $2.5 million to the city's $75.6-million Convention Complex Project and $1 million to the city's $8.7-million downtown riverfront amphitheater project.

In announcing the library award on Tuesday, Jack Evans, president of the Hall-Perrine Foundation, called the new library "a perfect match" for the foundation's mission of improving the quality of life for local residents.

"As we learn more about this visionary project, we truly understand how this library of the future will be a vibrant place of interaction, personal enrichment and learning for all community members to enjoy," Evans said.

The new library will be built at 421 Fourth Ave. SE across from Greene Square Park. TrueNorth Companies Inc.'s building on the site will be demolished to make way for the new library while TrueNorth will renovate and occupy the former library on First Street SE.