City of Joplin to announce new owner of old library building

Sep. 5—An announcement will be made Wednesday on a transfer in ownership of the former public library building at 302 S. Main St. to a new owner.

Regarded by city officials and the Downtown Joplin Alliance as a key downtown Joplin building, the city began in October advertising it for sale for redevelopment or repurposing through a sealed bid process.

"It's a beautiful building," Mayor Doug Lawson said at that time. "We are concerned we own a building that's just sitting there. It's in a perfect location, especially since downtown is growing."

Assistant City Manager Tony Robyn said the city intended to market the building rather than simply run ads for the sale. He said in October that a request for proposals was sent out to lists of developers maintained by both city sources and by the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce.

"We think it's an important building in downtown, and we want to handle it a little differently," he said.

Bids were due by Feb. 1. Building tours for interested bidders were conducted in November and December.

Proposals had to include a description of intended use, a financial plan, background on similar projects carried out by the bidder and a projection of the economic impact the intended project would be expected to generate.

There were a number of prospective uses to attract interested buyers, Robyn said last fall. It is located on a city block of property. The building offers 35,000 square feet of space and 54 parking spaces.

Lori Haun, executive director of the Downtown Joplin Alliance, said at the time the vacant building left a gap in the redeveloping downtown hub.

"That block really needs something to bring energy and life, and connect the 100 and 200 blocks with those to the south," she said in October.

The future of the building had been in question since the library's new building at 1901 E. 20th St. opened in 2017. It was constructed with funding largely provided a federal grant as a disaster recovery stimulus project after the 2011 tornado.

During the tornado recovery effort, the downtown library site had been offered to Kansas City University as a site for a medical school, which was later built at 2901 St. John's Blvd. within the city's medical district, a site donated by Mercy Hospital.

In 2018, officials with the city of Joplin in tandem with the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, Missouri Southern State University and Joplin School District announced a project to use the building as a business, technology and education hub called Project Launchpad.

A $10 million bond issue to fund remodeling for that purpose was to be voted on two years ago but was withdrawn by city officials in November 2021. They said it would be difficult to move forward on the project because the former chamber president, who led the Launchpad effort, had left Joplin for a new job.

Project Launchpad would have had a number of objectives, including providing services for startup businesses and restaurateurs, training in technology and digital jobs, and internships for high school students in Joplin, Webb City and Carl Junction.

Library history

A library was first established in Joplin at Ninth Street and Wall Avenue with a $40,000 grant provided by the Carnegie Foundation. Historic preservationists say Joplin was one of the earliest cities in the state to have a library donated by wealthy steel industrialist Andrew Carnegie through a $40 million endowment he made that eventually built 1,600 libraries across the country from 1886 to 1919.

An effort started here in 1893 to raise money for the purpose of funding a library. In 1901, voters approved a 10-cent levy to support eventual operations of one. When the Carnegie grant came through in 1902, construction began.

That original library building has been vacant for years and has survived two fires. It has been listed for sale by the Glenn Group LLC, a commercial real estate firm. The asking price is $489,000.

The Main Street library building was built in 1981 for $2 million after library and city officials decided a new building was needed for more space and because the upper floor of the early 1900s structure had weakened and was no longer capable of carrying the weight of books and shelves.

After construction of the Main Street building, the original library building on Wall Avenue was closed and became private property.

The Main Street building was constructed on the site of the former historic Connor Hotel, which collapsed Nov. 11, 1978, a day before it was to be demolished after years of vacancy and unsuccessful revitalization attempts. Three workers were trapped in the building's rubble, and rescue workers found one, Alfred Sommers, alive after three days of searching. Bodies of the other two also were recovered.