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Milwaukee library proposal calls for fewer but larger libraries, mixed uses

While his mother studies nearby, Colin Carter, 4, browses through books Sunday at the Capitol Library, 3969 N. 74th St. A 10-year, $18.1 million plan would dramatically reshape more than half of Milwaukee???s branch libraries, merging some neighborhood libraries and moving others into buildings with housing, stores or hotels.

Mark Hoffman

While his mother studies nearby, Colin Carter, 4, browses through books Sunday at the Capitol Library, 3969 N. 74th St. A 10-year, $18.1 million plan would dramatically reshape more than half of Milwaukee???s branch libraries, merging some neighborhood libraries and moving others into buildings with housing, stores or hotels.

More than half of Milwaukee's city libraries would be dramatically reshaped by a 10-year, $18.1 million plan to merge some neighborhood libraries into regional centers and move others into buildings shared with housing, stores or hotels.

Struggling with increasingly tight operating budgets, Milwaukee Public Library officials are trying to avoid rising maintenance costs by replacing aging facilities with a new array of libraries more in tune with a digital world.

But they will have to overcome skepticism from residents and some aldermen, who cherish the network of 13 libraries, spaced no more than three miles apart.

The Library Board is proposing to replace some of its 12 neighborhood libraries with two or three larger area libraries; three mixed-use facilities that would combine neighborhood libraries with housing or other uses; and two or three miniature "express libraries" in supermarkets, coffee shops or other high-traffic spots, leaving three to five traditional neighborhood libraries. The plan wouldn't affect the Central Library downtown.

If Mayor Tom Barrett and the Common Council agree during the 2011 budget process this fall, the change would start on the northwest side, where the Mill Road and Capitol libraries would be replaced by a single, larger new building, and on the east side, where developers have suggested housing or hotels to share space with the East Library. Work is under way to move the northwest side's Villard Ave. Library into a new building with multigenerational housing.

Library officials started studying the options last year, under pressure to cut costs. Budget cuts have sliced the schedules of the branch libraries by 15 hours a week over the past five years, to 35 hours a week, except for the federally funded Center Street Library. The budget for buying books, compact discs and other materials also has been trimmed during that time.

Adding to the budget pressures, seven branches need major upgrades to their mechanical systems, at a cost of up to $750,000 each, or about $5 million overall.

Library Director Paula Kiely and board members say it would be better to consolidate services and invest in newer, more energy-efficient buildings, saving enough money to keep a smaller number of libraries open longer hours, with more computers and more materials.

Preserving library hours

Until now, most attempts to close existing libraries have been blocked by a wave of opposition from neighbors. But keeping all libraries open and further slashing their hours isn't sustainable, Aldermen Nik Kovac and Jim Bohl argue. Barrett and west side Ald. Michael Murphy say city officials need to have more discussions with library patrons about the plan and about the budget choices that the city is facing.

Bohl, who represents a northwest side district, backs Kiely's plan to replace Mill Road Library, 6431 N. 76th St., and Capitol Library, 3969 N. 74th St., with a new area library by the end of 2013. Murphy supports the concept but wants to be sure the closed libraries won't sit vacant, like the former Finney Library at W. North Ave. and N. Sherman Blvd., unused since the Washington Park Library opened at 2121 N. Sherman Blvd. in 2003.

To fill any service gaps left by the merger of the Mill Road and Capitol libraries, Kiely and Bohl support opening an express library on the northwest side in 2011. Kiely envisions each express library as a small satellite center in a supermarket or other easily accessible spot, mainly for picking up and dropping off library materials.

Barrett says the express libraries "may be even more convenient for citizens" than neighborhood libraries. But Murphy, the chairman of the council's Finance & Personnel Committee, wants more information about how this concept works elsewhere.

Authorities haven't picked a site for a new area library, but Bohl and fellow northwest side Ald. Joe Davis Sr. have suggested a long-vacant Kohl's store at W. Appleton and W. Hampton avenues. Because that building has much more space than a library would need, Bohl said, the rest of the facility should be used for senior housing.

That mixed-use model is already set for Villard Square, a combined housing and library building to be built on the northwest side to replace the nearby Villard Ave. Library, 3310 W. Villard, in 2011. Barrett says mixed-use facilities can reduce construction and maintenance costs and help draw library patrons.

The Library Board also wants to solicit proposals for a mixed-use library at the site of the East Library, 1910 E. North Ave. Two Milwaukee developers have expressed interest in a possible hotel there, said Kiely and Kovac, who represents the east side and also serves on the Library Board.

In 2006, William Orenstein contacted city officials about building an extended-stay hotel, with about 90 rooms, a remodeled library and a parking structure, just north of the site.

More recently, developer Doug Weas has proposed a 110-room hotel for the site, with a parking structure and renovated library.

Both proposals envision that the expanded Columbia St. Mary's Hospital, just a few blocks away, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee would draw hotel guests.

Attracting financing for a hotel wouldn't be easy, given the difficult credit markets, Orenstein said. But he believes it could be done.

Meanwhile, executives at Chicago-based Mercy Housing Lakefront Inc. have talked to city officials about a possible apartment building at the library site, said Mercy spokeswoman Lisa Kuklinski. The apartments would be marketed to seniors and would complement Mercy's plans to develop apartments aimed at moderate-income families, on a nearby site between N. Farwell and N. Murray avenues, about one-half block north of E. North Ave.

Mercy would finance both apartment developments in part by obtaining federal tax credits that are given to developers that build affordable apartments. In return for the credits, developers agree to provide apartments at below-market rents to people earning no more than 60% of the local median income.

© 2015, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved.

About Tom Daykin
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Tom Daykin covers commercial real estate and development.

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