Plans for former library collapse

Winter Park passes on conversion to a co-working space

Winter Park is back to the drawing board in charting a path forward for its former library, which sits within shouting distance of Park Avenue.

The city commission voted Wednesday to end negotiations with the lone developer who bid on renovating the building last year, who had plans of converting the top two floors to co-working space with a mix of uses on the ground floor.

In talks about the future of the building in recent weeks, commissioners have discussed broadening a request for proposals to include workforce housing, as well as allowing developers more time to come to the table with ideas.

No consensus on its future has been reached.

“I think we may have been too restrictive and we may have been too rushed to get that RFP back,” Commissioner Marty Sullivan said Wednesday.

The lengthy negotiations with Harbert Realty Services included a handful of offers, with the city and developer unable to reach an agreement on a lease that satisfied both sides. The most recent offer proposed Wednesday included a $200,000 annual rent payment, allowing the city to approve tenants on the ground floor and the opportunity to terminate the lease at 20 years.

Commissioners expect to meet in the coming weeks to discuss how to proceed.

The former library, built in 1979, is a three-story, 33,000-square-foot brick building, which became vacant when the city opened a state-of-the-art library in Martin Luther King Jr. Park two years ago.

Last April city officials put the building out for bid, seeking creative proposals that included smaller dining, office space, co-working and other uses, comparing it to a pair of Tampa hotspots, Oxford Exchange and Armature Works. The bid documents said proposals shouldn’t include demolishing the library or the city selling the property.

Damien Madsen, a vice president with Harbert Realty Services, told commissioners the vacant building is out of code and work needs to be done to bring it into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. He projected it would cost about $14.5 million to convert it to co-working space under his plan, which included rebuilding the staircase, elevator and restrooms.

Michael Williams, the president and CEO of Harbert Realty, told commissioners last week that converting it to apartments would be even more expensive, and knocking it

down and rebuilding would be cheaper.

For some commissioners, demolishing the building is now an option.

Mayor Phil Anderson said last month that tearing it down may be the most viable option and that in its current form it “has no economic value.”

Wednesday, Commissioner Todd Weaver, who has advocated for keeping the building and renovating it, said he talked to five builders or architects who saw value in the old library.

“This old library is a public asset and we want to do what’s best for the public,” Weaver said. “Darn it, I’m tired of Winter Garden and Tavares pulling [one] over on the cool factor with Winter Park.

“We’re better than that and this is an opportunity to get back on the cool train.”