The stacks have been cleared from the old Fort Vancouver Regional Library District building on Mill Plain Boulevard, but for the next 10 to 20 years, it will still play home to books and librarians.
The old library is now being used to consolidate all district staff and book processing facilities into one location, saving about $120,000 a year, library spokeswoman Sue Vanlaanen said.
“We’re looking forward to greater efficiencies resulting from having all district staff in one building,” she said by email.
The city of Vancouver, which owns the building and the land at 1007 E. Mill Plain Blvd., approved a $1-a-year lease agreement on Dec. 19.
The library district is spending $1.3 million (from district funds, not bond measures that financed the construction of the new main library and Cascade Park branch) to remodel the space for administrative purposes.
The library’s administrative staff and book processing will be done there for at least 10 years under the new lease, with the option for the library board to remain for another 10 years after that. The building has 44,500 square feet of class C office space.
The new lease also releases the city and the library district from a 99-year lease signed in 1963.
“The proposed lease will allow the district sufficient time to engage in long-term planning for its administrative and warehouse facility needs,” a Vancouver staff report said of the new lease. “Since the original lease term is significantly shortened, the city is also able to engage in long-term planning for the eventual use of the building and site. The proposed lease allows both parties to achieve mutually beneficial objectives.”
The new $38 million Vancouver Community Library, approved by voters in 2006, at the intersection of Evergreen and C streets opened in July.
Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542 or andrea.damewood@columbian.com or www.twitter.com/col_cityhall.
