The Detroit Downtown Development Authority approved a $3 million grant this week to make improvements to the Detroit Public Library’s Skillman branch, which has been closed since 2020 and will now reopen after renovations.

The Skillman branch, located at 121 Gratiot in downtown Detroit, was initially shuttered because of the COVID-19 pandemic and remained closed due to construction at the neighboring Hudson’s site, according to the Detroit Public Library. 

In the fall, the library notified the DDA of cost estimates to make needed repairs and improvements to the branch, including window and boiler replacement, porch repair, landscaping and painting. On Wednesday, the DDA gave the green light on the funding. The branch could reopen later this year or early 2026, according to a resolution.

“It’ll prove to be a significant and important investment, especially as we continue to have visitors and people moving in downtown; they’ll have a downtown library branch,” Antonio Brown, the Detroit Public Library’s chief financial officer, told DDA board members on Wednesday.

Skillman has 13 or 14 broken windows and no exterior lighting but the building is still in good physical shape, Brown said. While the branch’s boiler system works, it is 30 years old, he added.

The library originally planned to reopen when the Hudson’s site construction was complete. Those buildings are slated to wrap up by spring and before the end of the year.

“The library continues to reiterate that our plans were to reopen Skillman once the major construction at the Hudson site was completed,” Brown said in a statement. “This funding delays … reopening the branch, but allows for major enhancements for the staff and residents.”

The $3 million grant comes from general tax increment financing revenues captured by the DDA and will be paid during the library’s construction, Lanard Ingram, senior director of marketing and communications for the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., which staffs the downtown authority, said in an email.

Capturing revenues in tax increment financing districts allows entities, such as DDAs and brownfield redevelopment authorities, to take a slice of the increase in property taxes from improved properties in their districts, to fund projects.

The DDA is among the entities that has been capturing incremental property tax revenue from the Detroit Public Library. Last fall, Detroit voters overwhelmingly approved a Detroit Public Library renewal millage of 3.9943 mills that generates the vast majority of the library’s operating budget, and as library officials said at the time, would also exempt the library from certain tax captures by the DDA. Starting in July, the library will begin receiving the voter-approved millage, spared from DDA tax captures.

In the 2023 fiscal year, the DDA captured $3.3 million from the library, up from about $2.8 million the year before, according to library figures. Critics of tax captures say the financing tool harms public institutions, like libraries, when the money could instead go to residents and neighborhoods. But the DDA has said it has revitalized the downtown.

“I think that there has been a lot of scrutiny in the press about the relationship with tax captures in the library. I understand that but I think this is a significant improvement, and this is a significant investment, enough to say we’re bridging that gap,” the Detroit Public Library’s Brown said on Wednesday.

Formerly known as the Downtown Library, the Skillman branch opened in 1932 and is home to the National Automotive History Collection. Detroit’s library system — among the largest in Michigan — includes the main location in Midtown and 21 neighborhood branches. The Detroit Public Library has a collection of more than 4.4 million items, including books and DVDs, and access to more than 800 computers.

Currently, two branches remain closed — Skillman and Monteith, on the far east side of the city. Monteith has “more extensive structural issues,” according to the library.

This story was updated to add new information.

Free Press staff writer JC Reindl contributed to this report.

Contact Nushrat Rahman: nrahman@freepress.com. Follow her on X: @NushratR.