After a $38 million renovation and reimagining of its main site downtown South Bend, the St. Joseph County Public Library is now focusing on its branches. That could include moving one of them.
The library Wednesday announced that starting Nov. 25 it will close the Centre branch library on Kern Road for a $1.5 million renovation, likely reopening next fall. The branch will receive new lighting, carpet, paint and furniture for the first time since it was built in 1999.
Even bigger changes could be coming to other branches.
As work starts on the Centre Branch, the library will start to look at its two branches serving South Bend’s west side – the LaSalle Branch on Ardmore Trail and the Western Branch on Lombardy Drive.
The county council this month approved a nearly $9 million bond issue for the LaSalle and Western work, which could include relocating the Western Branch to nearby Western Avenue so that it’s more visible.
"The ability to increase visibility, at the same time you've got a ton of investment that's going into the western side of our county as a whole," said library spokesman Daniel Lichty. "So we expect to see some growth there in that area and in that neighborhood, and we want to be primed and ready for that when the time comes."
It’s all part of the system’s “Our Next Chapter” initiative, which calls for renovating all nine branches over the next 10 years.
