Central Library Basement Leveled as $195 Million Seismic Retrofit Advances

Construction crews have excavated the basement of Pasadena’s Central Library to one consistent height, dug trenches for footings, and installed rebar and water membranes in preparation for concrete slab pours, an early milestone in the seismic retrofit of the 1927 landmark, according to the City of Pasadena.

The basement work is part of the Central Library Retrofit and Renovations project, funded by Measure PL, a $195 million general obligation bond Pasadena voters approved on Nov. 5, 2024, to bring the closed building back into public service. The City has estimated debt service on the bonds at about $12 million a year over 30 years. “Central Library is not just a building; it’s a hub of learning,” Library Director Tim McDonald said when voters approved the measure.

Before the library closed in 2021, the basement consisted of seven different floor heights, which the City said left much of the space unusable for storage, public use and staff work. Crews have since graded it to one level, with footing work moving methodically from the building’s east side to the west and now focused on the old computer lab area. Slab-on-grade concrete pours follow the footing work and should be completed in the coming weeks, and the leveling will open better access and full use of the basement, apart from spaces reserved for mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, according to the City. The City said the basement upgrades remain on schedule.

The library closed on May 3, 2021, one of thousands of aging masonry structures caught by California’s seismic-safety rules. The state’s Unreinforced Masonry Building Law, enacted as Senate Bill 547 in 1986 and codified at Section 8875 of the Government Code, required local governments in the highest seismic zone to inventory such buildings and set up loss-reduction programs by 1990, and it covered roughly 25,000 buildings statewide. Such buildings are dangerous in earthquakes because their walls and roofs are often not tied together, allowing masonry to fall and floors to collapse, and state law requires owners of unretrofitted ones to post an earthquake warning and disclose the risk to tenants.

The City Council selected PCL Construction Services, Inc. to build the project under the Construction Manager At-Risk method, which sets a Guaranteed Maximum Price, and approved the preconstruction and selective-demolition contract on July 21, 2025. The City broke ground on Dec. 12, 2025, at a ceremony that drew about 150 people, with remarks from Mayor Victor M. Gordo, District 3 Councilmember Justin Jones, Public Works Director Greg De Vinck and Library Director Tim McDonald.

Designed by architect Myron Hunt in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, the Central Library held roughly 300,000 items and served about 1,000 visitors a day before it closed, according to the project’s design firm, Gruen Associates. Beyond the seismic strengthening, the work includes selective demolition, hazardous-materials removal and full replacement of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

“This library reflects who we are as a community,” Gordo said at the groundbreaking. The project is targeted for completion in 2028, and updates are posted at https://www.cityofpasadena.net/Library/Central-Library-Earthquake-Retrofit/.