Tulsa City-County Library officials broke ground on the William K. and Natalie O. Warren Library in South Broken Arrow Wednesday, marking the fourth and final construction project in the system's multi-year effort to replace its most overcrowded branches. The new 20,000-square-foot building at 2345 W. New Orleans Street will more than triple the size of the current South Broken Arrow Library, a 6,000-square-foot facility built in 1993 that has become the system's sixth-busiest location among 24 public branches.
As reported by News On 6, the project is a public-private partnership between Tulsa City-County Library and the City of Broken Arrow. The William K. Warren Foundation donated the land for the new building, and Kimberly Johnson said the facility will advance access to spaces, resources and opportunities for the communities the library serves, according to the outlet's report.
Funding for the branch reflects years of community planning that stretched beyond the library system itself. Broken Arrow voters approved Proposition 7 of the city's $415 million Build Our Future BA General Obligation Bond in April with 69% support, according to the City of Broken Arrow, directing $4 million in municipal funds toward the library without raising property tax rates. Mayor Debra Wimpee said, per the station's report, that citizens overwhelmingly supported the 2026 GO bond package, investing in Broken Arrow's future and the new library.
A Funding Gap Bridged by Taxpayers and Philanthropy
The city's contribution came after rising material and construction costs threatened to delay the project, a gap that TCCL sought help closing once its own capital reserves fell short, according to the Tulsa Flyer. Before the bond vote, a municipal survey of roughly 4,200 Broken Arrow residents found that 90% supported city funding to keep the library project on schedule, the outlet reported.
Beyond the Warren Foundation's land gift, several private donors helped round out the project's financing, including McElroy Manufacturing, Helmerich & Payne, Arvest Bank, Security Bank and the Broken Arrow Community Foundation, according to the Broken Arrow Sentinel. That network of public and private support allowed the branch to move forward even as its city's population swelled; U.S. Census Bureau estimates show Broken Arrow grew more than 10% from 113,540 residents in 2020 to nearly 125,000 by July 2025, making it Oklahoma's fourth-largest city, per Every City in the USA.
What the New Branch Will Offer
The Warren Library is designed by Ethos Architects and will be built by Crossland Construction, according to News On 6. Planned amenities include a drive-up service window, an adult patio, a maker space, an outdoor children's amphitheater, collaboration areas, flexible classrooms and a dedicated storytime room, the station reported, and the branch's collection is expected to grow by 40%.
Those additions mirror a strategy TCCL has used across its broader capital campaign, converting traditional book depositories into multi-generational community hubs, as the Sentinel has noted. The current South Broken Arrow library, located directly across the street from the construction site, will remain fully open throughout the build, according to Tulsa City-County Library. The new building is anticipated to open in 2028.
The Final Piece of a $58 Million Campaign
The Warren Library groundbreaking represents the capstone of TCCL's My Library, OUR Future capital campaign. The campaign set out to raise $56 million to replace four heavily used, space-constrained branches across Tulsa County; a progress update put fundraising at 89% of a $54 million goal, according to The Oklahoma Eagle. The first project to open was the 15,000-square-foot Bronson Brookside Library in Midtown Tulsa, which more than doubled its prior space and introduced the system's first drive-up window when it opened in 2025.
Earlier this month, the 33,000-square-foot Rudisill Regional Library in Tulsa's Historic Greenwood District celebrated its grand opening, doubling the size of its African American Resource Center as part of the $21.2 million project. Meanwhile, the Eddy Gibbs Library in Owasso remains under construction as Oklahoma's first multi-use public library development, integrating 59 residential apartments after breaking ground last October.
Together, the four projects reflect how fast-growing Tulsa County suburbs have outpaced the capacity of decades-old library buildings. TCCL serves more than 5 million physical and virtual visitors systemwide each year, and with Broken Arrow's population having expanded by more than 50% since 2000, the Warren Library's 2028 opening is expected to relieve pressure on one of the system's most heavily used branches.
