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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend April 4, 2006 Medford Hotel resident Mike Reed and his Pekingese, Amanda, enjoy the well-groomed grounds Monday around the Carnegie library building, which has sat vacant for two years. The city will hold a work session on the historic structure�s future in May. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Officials waffle on fate of Carnegie library City considers selling the historic but empty library building By JOHN DARLING for the Mail Tribune Would the cash-strapped city of Medford sell its historic and well-located — but empty — Carnegie library building? Maybe. It’s one of many options on the table as city leaders move toward a work session planned next month on the Greek revival structure, empty now for two years and facing an expensive seismic upgrade. One interested buyer is the Chamber of Medford/Jackson County. "We’ve kicked it around with them (the city) as one of a thousand other options," said Brad Hicks, chamber president and chief executive officer. "We want to see it put to its best use, whether it’s us in there or someone else. But if we had to make the decision tomorrow, we’d probably want to buy the building." To use the building — and remain the owner and landlord — the city would have to spend $800,000 to $1.5 million to refurbish and retrofit it, according to preliminary estimates. Advertisement "We don’t have any money and we have all kinds of projects," said Mike Dyal, city manager. The city has talked with "dozens of interested organizations," said Dyal, "but none said they had any money and that’s the question we asked them." The city is committed to keeping the Carnegie a community building, Dyal said. "It’s not useful in its present condition — the heating system broke down this winter — so we’re looking at how do we get there," he said. Dyal said selling all or part of the Carnegie is one of three options. The other two include reinvesting in it with help from partners or the community, and leasing all or part of it. If it sells the building, the city would stipulate that it be well-maintained as a historic property. Though the option’s on the table, Dyal cautioned, "no flesh has been put on that skeleton at all." Glenda Owens, assistant to the city manager, said no buyer has been named and there have been no formal discussions with any party interested in buying. "It needs a lot of work and any buyer would have to retrofit it seismically," she said. The City Council revisited the project in a February goal-setting session, said city Councilman Skip Knight, and members asked city staff to come back with plans at a study session in May. The city is facing revenue shortfalls and multiple expensive projects, among them adequate staffing for police and fire, space for city staff (some are now housed in modules in the parking lot), replacement of City Hall’s aging heating and air conditioning system and infrastructure for the proposed Middleford Commons, said Owens. "It (Carnegie) is kind of in limbo. It’s not been totally shelved, but no definitive direction has been given," said Owens. Hicks called Carnegie "such a grand building in an important part of downtown and I can’t think of a better location for our 110-year-old Chamber than that 110-year-old building. It would be kind of nice to marry them up." The Chamber could be sole tenant, he noted, or share the building with similarly oriented agencies, such as Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc., Small Business Development Center and Southern Oregon Women’s Access to Credit. City staff is "still in the planning stages on this thing," said Knight, adding that it "ought to be some kind of community use, instead of just one organization." The Southern Oregon Historical Society and the Medford Parks and Recreation Department have expressed interest in being anchor tenants in the building. The Carnegie, left vacant in April 2004 when Medford’s new Central Library was built, is not falling down, said Brian Sjothun, city parks and recreation director. "It’s fine," he said. "It’s a nice, historical building. It’s going to need a million dollars to bring it up to code." But Owens noted that "if you walked in there, you’d not want to be in it." A citizen’s committee in 2003 recommended using the building as a cultural and community center, with offices for nonprofit groups and rooms for classes, art shows, performances and receptions. John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at [email protected]. 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