The Boston Public Library is considering adding apartments to share space with four neighborhood branches slated for renovation, a rare combination that exists in New York and Chicago but would be the first in the city.
The initiative, being developed in collaboration with the Department of Neighborhood Development, fits with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s drive to build more housing units as a way to moderate rising rents. The branches that could see public library patrons and private tenants in the same building are the West End near downtown, Fields Corner and Uphams Corner in Dorchester, and Egleston in Roxbury, according to one city official.