Newport breaks ground on Corona del Mar ‘fibrary’

Work began Tuesday on Corona del Mar’s new fire station and library complex.

Newport Beach leaders celebrated the $8.8-million combined facility with a groundbreaking ceremony on the site of the former fire station and library buildings at Marigold Avenue and East Coast Highway.

The buildings were about 60 years old and had reached the end of their usefulness, the city says. Firefighters were working out of a single-wide trailer onsite because the old station had fallen out of code, and library staff was making stopgap repairs to its building.

The city estimates the “fibrary” will be complete in summer 2019.

In the meantime, book lovers can visit the three other Newport libraries, and the Fire Department will use a temporary facility in a parking lot at the Oasis Senior Center, about a quarter-mile away.