North Sunnyvale is getting a library at the end of the month.

The city of Sunnyvale announced on Friday the Lakewood Branch Library and Learning Center’s grand opening on Oct. 31. Grand opening festivities will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 760 Lakechime Drive. The city encourages attendees to show up in Halloween costumes for treats.

The 20,000 square-foot building is fully electric and will offer amenities including study spaces and the Maker Lab. The lab will provide tools such as a 3D printer, sewing machines and craft supplies. The learning center will deliver activities related to literacy and wellness.

The Lakewood library’s opening follows more than a decade of planning between the city and partnering school districts. The Sunnyvale City Council first considered opening a new library in July 2012, during a joint meeting with the city’s board of library trustees.

According to those discussions, Lakewood is the only neighborhood where Sunnyvale residents must travel up to four miles to access a public library. The neighborhood is historically underserved and has the lowest percentage of resident library-card holders.

The neighborhood also reflects economic inequities the city continues to grapple with. Sunnyvale’s community equity assessment, which city employees finalized in August, discovered half of northern Sunnyvale’s residents feel disconnected from their government.

“Some of the city’s residents with the most to gain from library services have the most difficult time accessing those services,” reads a city webpage about the Lakewood library. “This project will bring library services closer to these residents.”

In late 2019, both Sunnyvale and Fremont-Union High school districts agreed to partner with the city. Each district paid $3 million for the library’s construction and will contribute a combined quarter of the library’s annual operating expenses. The library is on Sunnyvale School District (SSD) property because of its proximity to Lakewood Elementary School; this means SSD will lease the land to the city of Sunnyvale.

Original projections for construction sat around $28 million. The final contract, which the city awarded in spring 2024, went for $23 million.

Sunnyvale employees initially projected the library to open in late 2025 or early 2026, but delays pushed that deadline back. The city announced a grand opening in late August, but delays on window installations and the library’s exterior stuccos pushed the opening date back.

Chris Ramirez is a California Local News Fellow.