The former site of Fairview High School in Dayton will soon be home to the newest and largest branch in the Dayton Metro Library system.
More than a hundred spectators gathered Tuesday morning as officials broke ground on Dayton Metro Library's Northwest Branch. The expansive green space at Philadelphia Drive and Hillcrest Avenue was the home of Fairview High School, which was closed in 2010 and demolished a year later.
The new 30,000 sq. ft. facility will eventually replace branches in Dayton View, Ft. McKinley and Northtown-Shiloh, but Executive Director, Tim Kambitsch, noted that the Northwest branch would still be fairly close to those neighborhoods, and he believes patrons of those libraries will be well served by the new facility.
“As we do all the wonderful things that are anticipating this library having as an asset, people are quickly going to adapt and be proud of it," he said.
Features of the Northwest Branch will be audiovisual recording and editing suites, dedicated spaces for teens and children, tutoring, group study, and meeting rooms, WI-FI, and a coffee shop--and of course, lots of books.
Dayton City Commissioner, Joey Williams weilded one the shovels in the ceremonial groundbreaking.
“Everyone’s excited about this," he said. "A lot of graduates of Fairview High School are here, and I think this is a great reuse of the site. I can’t think of a better use to be honest with you.”
Sheila Crane, is a graduate of the, now gone, Fairview High School. She’s glad the legacy of education will continue on the north Dayton site.
“What Fairview stood for, the education that we received, it’s wonderful, and you know it’s no longer here, but this will be here for many generations to come," she said.
Construction of the Northwest branch, and renovations taking place at other Dayton Metro Libraries are being funded by a $187 million bond issue passed by Montgomery County voters in November of 2012.
Construction is expected to begin this year, after the July 4th holiday, and be completed in the fall of 2015.
Other projects taking place at various Metro Library locations are the renovation of the former Hauer Music building in downtown Dayton. Renovations there will be complete in February of 2015.
DML will relocate their operations center there and it will also be the temporary home of the downtown library when remodeling begins there the same year. Other branch libraries slated for closure are Belmont, Madden Hills, Westwood and the East Branch.
