Sale on Swan building hasn’t closed yet

Photo by Tom Rivers – The sale of the former Swan Library building at the corner of West State and North Main streets is expected to close any day now.

ALBION – For nearly two months, Hoag Library staff, volunteers and professional movers worked to empty the former Swan Library.

The sale of the building was to be finalized on March 23. Eight days after that date, the building remains in possession of the library.

The sale should close any day now, said Kevin Doherty, president of the Board of Trustees.

He said there aren’t any problems with the sale or the process, but some of the paperwork is still being reviewed by lawyers. The library met its goal of cleaning out the building by March 23.

The former library, a historic 6,000-square-foot site on Main Street, will be sold for $53,000 to Chad Fabry of Holley.

He wants to make the building available for offices, as well as a community meeting room.

“It needs some paint, some flooring work and fixture updates,” Fabry said today. “Otherwise it’s in great shape. I look forward to closing sometime soon.”

The library rented a dumpster for some of the junk and non-valuables at the site. Some of the more valuable artifacts were moved to the Hoag Library or a storage unit.

Swan was home to the community’s public library for 112 years, until the library moved a few blocks south to a new 14,600-square-foot building in 2012. The Hoag Library more than doubled the space for the library and offered far more parking spaces. The new site also is fully handicapped accessible.