The board purchased the McDonald’s property Nov. 12 for $775,000 with money from its capital projects fund earmarked for improvement at Woodbourne.
It also governs the Centerville Library at 111 W. Spring Valley Road. The 31,600-square-foot building there opened in 1995.
The libraries are not part of the Dayton Metro Library system, which will be building or renovating several of its branches in Montgomery County following voter approval of a $187 million bond issue in 2012.
Woodbourne, previously known as the the North Branch and located across Far Hills Avenue from the Washington Square Shopping Center, opened in a former bank building at 6060 Far Hills Ave. in 1980. An addition was constructed in 1986.
The libraries’ cataloging center is located between Woodbourne and the former McDonald’s.
Annual circulation and number of visitors has continued to grow, library board of trustees president Randell Bowling said.
“There are no specific plans for how we will use the McDonald’s property yet. In the short term, once demolition of the former restaurant is done, we will use it for construction equipment during the installation of the new egress and then for additional parking.”
Beginning in January, Bowling said the board will begin considering several options, including a large expansion, tearing down or converting the cataloging center to a meeting facility or doing a smaller expansion at Woodbourne. There is no meeting room at Woodbourne now.
“We will definitely be opening this up to the community for what we should do. How much it will cost and other details we learn in feasibility studies will also guide us,” Bowling said.
The City of Centerville, which also is contributing engineering services, and Washington Twp. have each agreed to provide $50,000 for the entrance project, which will cost between $400,000 and $450,000.
It will ease access and improve traffic safety at Woodbourne by directing cars to North Village instead of directly onto Far Hills.
McDonald’s has opened a new restaurant at 6270 Far Hills Ave. on the site of the former Tailgator’s bar and grill.
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