8098 Blaine Av., Inver Grove Heights

Type: Library

Addition size: 4,400 square feet

Cost: $1.8 million

Developer: Dakota County Library

Architect: Perkins and Will

Details: The Dakota County Library has revealed revised plans to enlarge and renovate its Inver Glen branch in Inver Grove Heights in a $1.8 million project set to begin in September.

The Inver Glen branch, opened in 2000, is the smallest library in the Dakota County system at a cozy 12,500 square feet. Its expansion will include a pair of additions of 2,200 square feet each designed by Minneapolis-based architects Perkins and Will.

The addition on the west side of the library comprises a new community meeting room and entry, while the east side will include smaller meeting and reading rooms, according to the county's project description.

The first set of plans, submitted to the Dakota County Board last year, were rejected as too plain and "boxy." The revised plans feature brick bases topped by aluminum curtain walls to match the aesthetics of the original building, which was designed with a stylized metal roof that resembles an open book with a lifted page turning. They also show a similar barrel-vaulted seam metal roof on the west addition.

The landscaping plan calls for two new rain gardens and improvements to its existing stormwater retention pond.

Inver Glen's parking lot will be expanded by 27 spaces to hold 87 vehicles, while its utilities and fiber-optic lines will be relocated as part of the project, which is expected to be completed by next summer.

Don Jacobson, a freelance writer in St. Paul, can be reached at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.