'A beacon of hope': Flagler County celebrates new Nexus Center

'As Andrew Carnegie said, ‘A library outranks any one thing a community can do to benefit its people,’' Library Director Albanese said. '‘It is a never failing spring in the desert.’'

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After a decade of dedicated effort, Flagler County’s Nexus Center has opened its doors. 

Since 2015, Flagler County has been working on plans for a new public library on the southwest side of the county, applying for grants year after year to fund the project. In August 2024, the county began construction on the 23,000-square-foot facility and on Thursday, Dec. 4, the Nexus Center opened for the first time.

Library Director Holly Albanese – who has said she’s been dreaming of the new library space for 19 years –  said it has been a long journey full of challenges to get to the grand opening. 

“My parents taught me, nothing worthwhile is ever easy. So, ‘I took the road less traveled, and that has made all the difference,’” Albanese said, quoting from “The Road Not Taken” by poet Robert Frost. 

The Nexus Center library replaces the old Bunnell library that was formerly on State Road 100. That location closed down and its contents moved to the Nexus Center. 

The Nexus Center is located at 2199 Commerce Parkway, behind the Flagler County Government Services buildings and across from the Flagler County Operations Center. The Bunnell Library at the Nexus Center will be open Sunday through Thursday.

Albanese was the driving force behind the Nexus Center. After several applications and rejections, Albanese secured three grants to help fund the Nexus Center, which totaled in cost to $16 million. 

During her remarks at the grand opening, Albanese said the grants, impact fees and revenue from the library’s passport services covered $8 million of the project cost. 

The facility, she said, is a “true dynamic, multi-faceted facility that serves as a hub for learning, innovation and community engagement.”

“As Andrew Carnegie said, ‘A library outranks any one thing a community can do to benefit its people,’” Albanese said. “‘It is a never failing spring in the desert.’”

The Nexus Center is not just the new home of the Bunnell library. Though the library takes up the majority of the space, it also has conference rooms, a room for passport services, administrative offices and a multi-use room with a kitchen that can be rented out for public events. 

In order to support additional staffing at the Nexus Center, the County Commission made changes to the operational hours and staffing at the county library’s Palm Coast branch for the fiscal year 2026 budget.

The changes included closing the Palm Coast branch on Mondays in addition to its Sunday closure, reducing the branch’s weekly operational hours from 52 to 40. Five Palm Coast branch employees were shifted to the Nexus Center as well, leaving the Palm Coast branch with 10 full-time employees and one part-time employee, according to the July decision. 

My parents taught me, nothing worthwhile is ever easy. So, ‘I took the road less traveled, and that has made all the difference.’"

– HOLLY ALBANESE, Flagler County Library director, quoting Robert Frost.

The Nexus Center Bunnell library has 11 employees, including those from the original Bunnell library branch.

The Nexus Center also now houses Flagler County Health and Human Services, which encompasses Human Services, Senior Services, Adult Day Care and Housing Services, and its 22 employees.  The HHS is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

During the opening ceremony, Health and Human Services Director Joseph Hegedus said the new facility is “a manifestation of a promise to our seniors, our family, our vulnerable community members.” 

“The resources and help are not far away,” he said. “Dignity, respect and care are not optional. They are foundational to Flagler County.”

Hegedus said the new, combined HHS will serve as “a centralized, accessible and collaborative hub” where services are available across a broader campus to provide compassionate and forward thinking support to those in need of services.”

“I believe this space is a beacon of hope,” Hegedus said. “A model of inspiration and a reminder that together, we build a stronger and healthier, healthier community.

The HHS’ Senior Center and Congregate Meals programs will be housed at the Nexus Center, he told the Observer, utilizing the in-house kitchen and multi-use room for the programs. The program runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekdays and has around 20-30 participants, he said. 

The resources and help are not far away. Dignity, respect and care are not optional. They are foundational to Flagler County."

– JOSEPH HEGEDUS, Flagler County Health and Human Services director

“We’ve got some that have been coming to us for years,” he said. 

Church on the Rock previously held the senior program, but, he said, the HHS programs had been spread out across several locations. Now, with the new and integrated space it allows for more collaboration across the HHS programs, which tend to overlap.

“We'll get a senior that's getting services through our meals program,” he said. “They might need a rental assistance or utility assistance through Human Services, or a new roof through our housing program. So absolutely, we have folks that kind of cross the program lines there.”

Flagler Commission Chair Leann Pennington said during the ribbon cutting ceremony that the Nexus Center is the result of the growing need for accessible resources in the southwest side of Flagler County.

“This center stands as our commitment to ensuring that every resident, regardless of where they live, has access to the support and opportunities they deserve,” she said.

 

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