A plan to build a world-class lecture hall at the Newport Beach Public Library has become more expensive, but those heading up the project say community and city support remain strong.
On Tuesday, Nov. 28, the City Council followed up on a recent workshop where they discussed the rising costs with the Newport Beach Library Foundation to determine what fundraising remains, how the additional funding will be raised and how the city’s largest public-private partnership will move forward. The council was split 3-4 at the workshop on moving forward with a new agreement. This week, the council appointed two members to work with the foundation to update the cost-sharing agreement. On Jan. 9, the council is scheduled to give its final blessing to the partnership, where each group pays half and approves the lowest bid for the construction.
Mayor Noah Blom and City Councilmember Lauren Kleiman were chosen to represent the council.
Planning to build the hall began in 2021, when construction costs were estimated to be about $12.8 million. The cost has grown to $24 million, and foundation leaders said they will reach out to the community to restart a capital campaign.
“We’ll go back out for more support,” Jerold Kappel, CEO of the library’s foundation, said. “The green room and the auditorium still have naming opportunities and the manager’s booth at the back of the hall. We exceeded our goal of $7 million and raised $8.3 million, and we have another possible $1 million prospect.”
A year ago, the City Council approved the 10,000-square-foot lecture hall’s naming as the Witte Hall after the foundation received a commitment from Bill Witte and Keiko Sakamoto for a $4 million donation. The family’s name will appear on the front of the building at the library entrance and on monument signs. Martin Witte, the family’s patriarch, supported the city’s library, which opened in 1994. He also inspired the popular Witte Lectures Series.
Each year, authors, journalists and other notable speakers participate in the lecture series at the library.
The new lecture hall will provide more programming space and benefit the public overall, supporters said.
Special programs have become a bigger focus of libraries nationwide, Kappel said, and often are ways to introduce people to a library’s other services. Currently, the lecture series and other events are held in a flat-floored room that’s long and narrow and seats 180 people. The new facility will have tiered seating for 299 people.
“We think we’ll continue to raise the additional money when we go back to the full campaign,” Kappel said. “We have community leaders that are extremely supportive. It’s clearly something the community would like.”
Homer Bludau, a longtime Newport Beach resident and city manager from 1999-2009, is among those who see the project as a must-have for the city. Besides being a boon for residents, he said it would be an opportunity for folks across the county to take advantage of new opportunities at the lecture hall beyond the speaker series, with other groups in the community also holding their programming in the new space.
“Newport Beach is an exceptional community and we need to provide exceptional facilities,” he said. “I’ve attended the speaker series, but we don’t really have a good place. This would seat 300 people and complete the city complex.”
Bludau said that other city facilities, while not as expensive, have also been the benefit of a city-private partnership. For example, he pointed to the building under construction for the Junior Lifeguard program and the Mariner’s Library in Corona Del Mar built in 2006.
