At its March 15 meeting, Vancouver City Council authorized the city to engage in negotiations with the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District (FVRL) on the potential sale of the city-owned building located at 2018 Grand Blvd. The sale creates opportunities for the Grand Boulevard building and the city-owned FVRL district operations building at 1007 E. Mill Plain Blvd.
FVRL began temporarily been using space in the Grand Boulevard building after its district operations building was extensively damaged last fall by a waterline break. FVRL has expressed interest in purchasing the Grand Boulevard space to provide a long-term stable location to house its administrative offices.
“The Fort Vancouver Regional Library has a longstanding relationship with the city, and we are encouraged by the opportunity to consider purchase of the Grand Boulevard building for our headquarters,” said FVRL Executive Director Amelia Shelley. “Our lease requires that FVRL have an exit plan from the old library building in the near future. We look forward to engaging with the surrounding neighborhoods and the city as we further explore this potential solution.”
The Grand Boulevard building formerly operated as the Navigation Center, which briefly served as a day center for people experiencing homelessness to receive services. If the sale of the building is successful, the city has committed to reinvesting revenue from the sale back into homelessness programs and services as part of the larger regional effort to address these needs in partnership with Clark County and other entities.
A potential sale and move of library offices would also spur an opportunity to consider new uses within the historic library building on Mill Plain Boulevard and optimize use of city properties.
“To ensure the best use of public assets we’re seeking to not only serve current community needs but to look ahead to the future of Vancouver,” said Vancouver City Manager Eric Holmes. “This includes providing the Grand Boulevard building for stable use suited to the surrounding neighborhoods and exploring turning the old library into an exciting new multiuse space whether that’s an arts destination, innovation incubator or other envisioned use that best serves our community.”
In 2018, the city, FVRL and Vancouver Public Schools developed a shared vision for the old library as a robust community center, including adaptive reuse as a community arts and innovation space and possible future inclusion of a midsize performing arts center. An elementary school for arts and innovation is already under construction on the site, funded by a voter-approved bond measure.
In determining the best uses of the former library building, the city will complete a facility use study to examine opportunities for the building that address community needs and will tap the city’s Culture, Art & Heritage Commission and others to help in that assessment.
Staff from the city and FVRL will facilitate conversations with neighborhood stakeholders around the Grand Boulevard building to gather feedback on the proposed sale and use of the building.
