After more than a year of sometimes-contentious negotiations with property owners on the city’s near-east side, the Indianapolis Public Library (IndyPL) has acquired land to house the new Brightwood Branch.
The Indianapolis Public Library Board of Trustees on Dec. 18 approved purchases of four tracts of land, totaling more than 2 acres, near the intersection of East 25th Street and North Sherman Drive.
The Recorder reported in April 2017 that some community members and city leaders were concerned that the Library would utilize eminent domain in order to acquire the land after negotiations between property owners and Library leaders dragged on. After the Dec. 18 decision, IndyPL spokesman Jon Barnes told the Recorder that the parties were able to reach an agreement and avoid invoking eminent domain.
With land secured, IndyPL is now diving further into the design phase.
“Although this has been a long process, we are excited to move forward and united as a community to provide the level of Library services that the Martindale-Brightwood area deserves,” IndyPL CEO Jackie Nytes said in a statement. “Our focus now turns to receiving input from neighborhood residents on the kinds of programs and building features that will make the new Brightwood Branch uniquely theirs.”
The 15,000-square-foot branch will replace an “undersized” facility in the Brightwood Shopping Center, which has housed the Brightwood Branch since 1972.
Community leaders have expressed excitement about the plans.
“The Brightwood Library has been a key institution in the Martindale-Brightwood community since 1901,” Josephine Rogers-Smith, executive director of the Martindale-Brightwood Community Development Corporation, said in a statement. “The new library will inspire hope and give way to showcase economic prosperity for the community.”
Project architect Axis Architecture + Interiors will host a series of community meetings during the first quarter of 2018 to gather public input on the new library’s design and assess community priorities. Construction is expected to begin in early 2019, and the new Brightwood Branch is scheduled to open in early 2020.
Earlier this year, The Indianapolis Public Library announced plans to relocate a 25th Street church to make space for the new Brightwood library.
