Quincy purchases $85,000 house

QUINCY - Quincy purchased a C Street house to accommodate future growth of the public library.

The city council recently agreed to spend $85,000 to purchase a home near the library's location at the corner of Central Avenue and C Street. The $1.3 million library building was finished in December after the city received a $900,000 Community Development Block Grant.

The 9,700-square-foot building, located on the corner of C Street and Central Avenue, replaces the old library next to city hall. The new library allows more space for books, seating and computers, project architect Brad Brisbine told the Quincy City Council when he displayed plans for it in 2009.

City Administrator Tim Snead said the city wants to purchase the land next to the library for possible expansion of the library. The city doesn't presently have plans for expanding the library.

"The council feels that it's prudent to do that now than wait," he said. "I've been working on this for a while. I had to get appraisals for all the properties. We've been working on this for six, seven months now."

The city plans to purchase more property in the area, and is working on purchasing the other two homes near the library, Snead said.

"We would like to acquire property on that half of the block," he said.

Councilmember Jose Saldana acted as the real estate agent in the deal. He did not participate in either the executive session preceding the purchase or the vote to buy the property.