A former conjunto music venue on the West Side is slated to become Bexar County’s latest branch of its digital library system.
County commissioners on Tuesday approved a $1.4 million contract with CMC Development & Construction to turn a section of the Lerma’s Nite Club building into its newest BiblioTech branch. The project is expected to take six months.
“Back in 2010, this building was going to be torn down,” said Graciela Sánchez, director of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. “It was just going to be another empty lot going up and down Zarzamora Street,” which is known for frequent vehicle-pedestrian crashes and higher crime rates.
Instead, the 10,000-square-foot structure built in 1942 will soon be home to a 4,000-square-foot BiblioTech Lerma’s, so that community members can use computers and other digital devices for school and work and access books for recreational reading. One section of the building already houses the nonprofit Conjunto Heritage Taller.
“There is a major digital divide and this community just desperately needs it,” Sánchez said.
Located at 1602 N. Zarzamora St., the art deco-style building is owned by the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center which contributed $1 million for its restoration. The county and city each contributed another $500,000 for the project.
The BiblioTech Lerma’s branch will serve as a complementary site to the BiblioTech West branch, which opened in 2015, said Laura Cole, director of the digital library system operated by Bexar County.
Like that branch, situated only 3 miles south of Lerma’s, it will provide access to technology, including computers, tablets, reading devices and Wi-Fi hot spots.
But its particular focus will be education, Cole said. “We will have plenty of room to conduct classes and programming. We will offer classroom space, a recording studio, maker space, study rooms and a community room.”
The bid by CMC Development & Construction to renovate and outfit the shell space for Bibliotech was the lowest among six bids for the project, which ranged between $1.4 million and $1.9 million, said Dan Curry, director of the county’s facilities management department.
CMC expanded its operations to San Antonio and Austin in 2023.
The first all-digital public library in the United States, BiblioTech marks its 10th anniversary this year. The first branch opened in September 2013 at 3505 Pleasanton Rd. Since then, it has circulated more than 2 million e-books and audiobooks and 73,868 e-readers, tablets and Wi-Fi hot spots.
The library’s collection includes more than 1.5 million e-books and audiobooks in addition to learning platforms, movies, music, newspapers and magazines.
BiblioTech West, opened in collaboration with the city’s public housing authority Opportunity Home, is the smallest branch in the system. The facility provides area residents with access to technology, but less programming than what is planned at the Lerma’s branch, said Jesse Garcia, branch manager.
“A lot of people are making résumés,” Garcia said. “Recently, we see a lot of patrons that are filling out applications for housing assistance and utility assistance.” Library staff assists with completing forms and uploading documents.
Preserving Lerma’s
The Lerma’s building is a preservation success story for advocates of the West Side’s deep cultural and architectural assets.
In 2010, the City of San Antonio shut down the bar and music venue that had been in business for six decades, because of numerous code violations.
The same year, a city panel designated the building a historic landmark, and in 2011, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2012, the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center acquired the building.
On Tuesday, County Judge Peter Sakai, Commissioner Justin Rodriguez (Pct. 2) and others voted to approve the project bid. But Northside-area Commissioner Grant Moody (Pct. 3) abstained from the vote after asking about the lease contract for the space.
“I just want to confirm that we have this long-term contract for the office space for BiblioTech if we’re going to make a significant investment in all the renovations and everything,” he said. “It sounds like there’s a verbal agreement and alignment but just nothing on paper.”
Curry said his department would bring that before the commissioners at a future meeting and Sánchez urged the court to approve the project.
“I would hope that you wouldn’t delay this decision,” she said. “You have our commitment and we [need] the county’s commitment to move forward so that we don’t have just an empty shell space and have to search for somebody else to come in.”
