The Windsor Public Library needs a new home for its central branch after being asked to leave its temporary location inside the Paul Martin Building in downtown Windsor.
It's to make way for the ongoing construction of a boutique hotel.
The central branch has been located inside the Paul Martin Building at 185 Ouellette Ave. since February 2020 after leaving its permanent location at 850 Ouellette Ave.
In December 2023, the city announced that Rob Myers, the owner of Chatham's Retro Suites and RM Auto Restoration, was taking over the Paul Martin Building from the city as part of a $30-million investment to create 80 to 100 suites, a restaurant, a cafe, and possibly a gym inside the property.
"The plan was to stay there another four to five years. But they're saying that they're way ahead of schedule. The sooner you guys get out of there, the sooner we can get this Retro Suites and hotel up and running," he says.
McKenzie says the city doesn't have $30-to-$40 million to build a new permanent central library branch, but there are buildings downtown that have been sitting empty for years.
"We're kind of looking at buildings and saying, 'Ok, you know, here's around 15,000 to 20,000 sq. ft.; we'd be able to fit in there.' We have a pretty healthy reserve, so we may not even have to go to the taxpayers to ask for more money for this new central library; we may be able to purchase a building and do all the updates we need by just going into the reserve," he says.
McKenzie says they're looking at all options.
"Hopefully we'll be able to announce something within the next few months, and ideally we would have a new location open before the end of the year. You have to give some notice to some people sometimes, but we're hoping that sometime in 2025 we can have a new central library location, ideally," he says.
The Windsor Public Library Board will next meet Tuesday, February 18.