Tucson's main library moving across the street

Tucson’s main library will be moved into a former downtown bank the county has purchased across the street.

Supervisors on Tuesday approved purchasing the former Wells Fargo Building, 150 N. Stone Ave., for about $6.2 million.

It will become the new home Joel D. Valdez Library, the main branch located across the street at 101 N. Stone Ave.

The county also acquired two “ancillary” buildings and an adjacent parking lot.

“The county has been wrestling for several years about how to address mounting problems with the aging downtown Valdez Library, which was built by the city of Tucson in 1990 ... changes in how the public uses libraries also means the county doesn’t need a building as large as Valdez,” the county said in a news release.

The existing main library has about 90,000 square feet in space. The new space has a total of about 50,000 square feet of space across the three buildings.

Purchasing the new space could potentially solve “many problems” for the county and its library system, said Supervisor Rex Scott, the board chair.

“The Valdez Library is more than just a lending library and administrative headquarters. It’s a community gathering space, a resource provider, a jobs center, a communications hub, a learning center, and a place of respite,” he said in the news release. “It is essential to the life and vitality of downtown Tucson, and it was essential for the board to preserve that and do it in a way that was financially responsible and respectful to county taxpayers.”

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The county library system has been looking into ways to save money since at least last September.

In fact, the downtown branch was among five libraries that were considered to be downsized or closed across the region, citing its need for major renovations, the Star previously reported. According to that draft report, renovations would cost the county about $90 million.

The library, its underground parking garage and the Jacome Plaza are all owned by the city. The county could have taken ownership of the current library once it expended “at least 50% of the estimated value on repairs and capital improvements to the building” and its parking garage, according to language of the agreement approved by supervisors Tuesday.

However, the cost to make those repairs and improvements needed exceeded “the estimated cost to acquire and retrofit” the Wells Fargo building, the agreement says. Instead, the county is opting to move the operations to the former Wells Fargo building, which has been vacant since February 2022.

“With the completion of the purchase, the county will engage with the community on envisioning library services and programs at the new location and incorporate them into the renovation plans the new library building complex,” the news release said.

The county says it and the city “are in discussions about the future of the plaza and the library building once the county completes the move across the street.”

Once approved, the agreement initiates a 60-day process in allowing for a review of the building, the garage and the beginning of environmental testing, Martin Klell, deputy director of Project Design and Construction for the county, said in a Nov. 8 library renovation and space study memo.

A project schedule and estimated date of completion will be created during the design phase, Klell said in the memo.