Council sends library plan to voters
Total bond cost would exceed $7.3 million
By Chris Busby
By a near-unanimous vote, the Portland City Council decided to let voters determine this summer whether the Portland Public Library’s main branch should relocate into the Portland Public Market building behind it.
Though voters citywide may get to weigh in on the plan June 12, the fate of the proposal actually rests at present with Guggenheim Real Estate LLC, the investment firm that bought the market building and its attached parking garage last summer. Library officials are still negotiating details of the deal by which the library and the city would purchase the market, 40 parking spaces in the garage, and the skyway connecting the two buildings.
Meanwhile, the market is still, technically, “on the market.”
Real estate broker Greg Boulos, of CB Richard Ellis/The Boulos Company (CBRE), is listing the market property for $4 million. The library hopes to acquire it for $2.75 million, using $2 million in bond money voters would have to OK in June, with the remainder coming from the library’s capital fund for renovations.
(Morris Fisher, the primary vice president of the library’s board of trustees, is president of CBRE’s brokerage arm; library officials say Fisher has recused himself from their deliberations on the purchase.)
Acting through a Delaware-based subsidiary called Canal Congress LLC, Guggenheim had signed a letter of intent with the library which called for the library to make a $250,000 “earnest money deposit” toward the sale by March 6. However, the Council postponed action on the matter March 5, citing a need for additional information, so that deadline was missed.
“We’re on borrowed time” with Canal Congress/Guggenheim, said former city councilor and mayor Nathan Smith, secondary vice president of the library’s board. The sellers “weren’t happy” about the delay, Smith told councilors, and noted that “we pleaded” for additional time to craft the deal.
Neither Canal Congress nor Boulos could be reached for comment this evening.
If voters do weigh in on the plan, they’ll be asked to allow $4 million in bond money they approved in 2004 for renovations to the current Monument Square branch to be used for renovation of the market instead. They’d also have to OK an additional $1 million in borrowing to help cover the additional cost of the market project.
According to city Finance Department Director Duane Kline, the total cost of the public borrowing, including interest over a 20-year period, would total more than $7.3 million.
Nearly a dozen members of the public spoke at tonight’s meeting, and most supported the move to the market. A couple questioned the finances and wisdom of the deal.
Among councilors, Cheryl Leeman was the sole dissenting vote against sending the matter to voters. “I’m not convinced this is a good business deal for the city,” said Leeman. “You’re asking too much of the taxpayers… It’s a very risky deal.”
“I think the people are going to vote for this without much hesitation at all,” said Councilor Jim Cloutier.
“This library is the center of this community, but it’s slipping,” said Councilor Jim Cohen, who added that the library’s current home on Monument Square “is not a space where I feel comfortable bringing my family” (Cohen has two young sons). “This is about building a library for the 21st century,” he said.
The new plan also calls for the city to sell 5 Monument Square for at least $3.375 million – cash that would go toward the move to the market. Though the plan currently envisions the library retaining use of the old building’s basement for some administrative operations and storage of lesser-used materials, library officials said they’re open to moving those books and administrators elsewhere in the city if, as expected, doing so would result in a higher sales price. The additional cash would be used to cover that relocation.
An assessment of the current library’s market value has been done, but that figure is being kept secret pending any future negotiations with a buyer for the property. Some councilors expressed unease that the public won’t know that figure when they go to the polls, but it seems enough councilors are comfortable with the figures – both public and private – to put the deal before voters.
And as some city officials who support the move have pointed out, the library would be responsible for raising any additional cash needed to make the deal work, as part of its ongoing fundraising campaign. That campaign has so far netted just less than half of its original $4.5 million goal.
If the city does end up selling the library’s 1979 downtown building, it would do so one of two ways. One option is simply to hire a broker and put it on the market for the highest bidder. The other would involve crafting a formal request for proposals (commonly called an RFP), as was recently done for redevelopment of the city-owned Maine State Pier.
The RFP process would help define what types of uses are preferable, or even allowable, on the site. The decision on whether to hire a broker or put out an RFP is expected later this year, depending on the outcome of negotiations with Canal Congress and the vote this summer.
