A battle is beginning to brew over the future of the Martin Luther King Jr. Library and whether the District should lease the historic building as office space to pay for a new $180 million central library.

Mayor Anthony Williams included a provision in a recently filed budget request that authorizes the city to lease the 30-year-old building, at 901 G St. NW, for 99 years to help fund the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility on the site of the former D.C. Convention Center.