The Old Quarry Branch sits on Village Center Drive, on ground that was once a limestone quarry. The pit covered one hundred acres and went thirty feet deep. Architect Charles B. Croft designed an 8,300-square-foot branch for the site, and it opened "with great fanfare" on January 15, 1976, in the Northwest Hills Shopping Center. That's the account in the Austin Public Library's history of its branches. The library is named for the quarry.
For the past two years and four months, the branch has been dark. It closed on June 17, 2024, and it has missed every target date set since then. The latest reason for the delay is different from a normal construction slip, though. By the library's own description, the renovation itself is done. The branch is waiting on electrical infrastructure and approvals. And when it does open, the library has scheduled a second closure, in South Austin, to start soon after.
How the Date Moved
The schedule is easiest to follow laid out in order.
| When it was announced | Reopening target | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Before the June 2024 closure | Early 2025, also listed as "Winter 2025" | APL renovation page |
| Spring 2026 | Monday, June 22, 2026, with a Grand Reopening Celebration on Saturday, June 27 | APL postponement release |
| June 12, 2026 | "Later this summer" | APL postponement release |
| Current | "Fall 2026," with no specific date announced | APL closures page |
The first plan said the Old Quarry and Willie Mae Kirk branches would close in summer 2024 and reopen in early 2025. By May 2026 there was a firm date, and the Austin American-Statesman reported the June reopening as planned. Less than two weeks before opening day, the library pulled both the reopening and the celebration, a delay KXAN covered on June 12. Today the library's closures page lists the branch as "Under Construction, branch closed," with an expected reopening of Fall 2026.
The original plan was a closure of roughly seven or eight months. By late October 2026, the branch has been closed for more than two years.
What Is Actually Holding It Up
The June postponement came late in the process, and the library's wording says where things stand. In its postponement announcement, the library said:
During final utility coordination and building commissioning, additional electrical infrastructure and approval requirements were identified that must be completed before the branch can safely open to customers and staff.
Commissioning is the last step before a building opens, when its systems are tested and signed off. The shelving, flooring and furniture were already in place when the problem turned up. The same release describes the renovation in the past tense, saying it "has transformed the branch into a brighter, more flexible, and more welcoming space." Library Director Hannah Terrell said in that announcement that "it is important that the remaining infrastructure work and approvals are completed before the building reopens."
The closures page uses nearly the same language today. The only change is the target, which has moved from "later this summer" to "later this fall." The library says it will announce a specific reopening date and a new Grand Reopening Celebration date once the remaining work is finished.
One page in the library's own materials has gotten ahead of the schedule. The branch-history StoryMap, published in August, says Old Quarry "reopened after a complete interior renovation" in 2026. The doors are still closed. The closures page and the Old Quarry branch page are the places to check for status.
A Different Building Behind the Same Front Door
The building that comes back has spaces the old one did not. Here's what the renovation page listed as Old Quarry's site-specific projects:
- Shared learning rooms
- Improvements to the children's area
- A new teen space
- Outdoor reading space
The library's branch history gets more specific about the finished layout. It names a computer lab, two small meeting rooms, a dedicated teen space and a reading patio, along with all-new shelving and furniture and ADA improvements. The postponement release describes "all-new literacy and learning zones for children and teens" and "a new outdoor reading patio."
Most of the work won't be visible. The renovation page lists a roof replacement, new HVAC systems with upgraded controls, window replacements, LED lighting, upgraded fire and security systems, ADA restroom improvements, sustainable flooring and a technology overhaul. The June release adds comprehensive asbestos abatement and other infrastructure upgrades. The project is paid for by the 2018 Library Bonds that Austin voters approved.
Many of the new spaces are rooms to use, not more room for books. Meeting rooms, a computer lab and a patio give a branch uses beyond borrowing. That matters more because the branch sits beside the Far West H-E-B at 7025 Village Center Drive, a short drive from Saffron at 3616 Far West Boulevard and The Soup Peddler at 3720 Far West Boulevard, Suite 105. A library with places to sit and meet can fit into a grocery run or lunch on Far West.
Where the Programs Are in the Meantime
Until Old Quarry opens, the closest full-service branch is the Spicewood Springs Branch at 8637 Spicewood Springs Road. Its calendar is busy. In the last week of October alone, the branch page listed:
- Books and Babies, Monday, Oct. 26, 2 to 3 p.m.
- Board Game Bash, Monday, Oct. 26, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
- Memory Café, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 11 a.m. to noon
- Practiquemos Español, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Those four show the range Spicewood Springs offers, from baby lap-time to evening Spanish conversation practice, so check the branch page for upcoming sessions. Books and Babies is also one of the programs the library's history shows at Old Quarry in earlier years.
Old Quarry's Opening Starts the Menchaca Road Closure
The reopening affects more than Northwest Hills. The library has tied it to the next closure on its list, the Menchaca Road Branch at 5500 South Menchaca Road in South Austin.
Menchaca Road was originally supposed to close after June 14, 2026, while Old Quarry reopened. When Old Quarry slipped, the library kept Menchaca open "to minimize the impact on library customers caused by simultaneous branch closures," saying the branch "will remain open until closer to the Old Quarry reopening date." Community Impact reported the then-planned Menchaca closure in May, before the delay changed the schedule.
The Menchaca project page now lists the branch as open and "Preparing for Construction," with an expected start in early 2027 and an expected closure of about one year. Design is complete and contractor selection is underway, and the work includes a new roof plus site and interior improvements. The library is effectively handing off from one branch to the other. Old Quarry's first weeks back will roughly line up with Menchaca's last weeks before it closes.
That's another reason the library is cautious about announcing a date. A date that slips again means two neighborhoods' library service has to be rescheduled. Until a date is announced, the closures page is the place to watch. When a firm date is posted, a new Grand Reopening Celebration date should be announced with it.
The Old Quarry Branch has been part of the Northwest Hills Shopping Center for fifty years, and changes like this one, in the places people use every week, are part of what Roxanne Escobedo follows closely in Northwest Hills. If a move, an estate or a change in your household has you thinking about what comes next in the neighborhood, Roxanne is glad to talk it through, in English or Spanish. Schedule a confidential consultation.
