Library still looking to sell now-empty New Whiteland branch

The Johnson County Public Library is selling its former Clark Pleasant branch.

The branch has moved from the 10,000-square-foot former office building to a new 17,200-square-foot branch at 350 Clearwater Blvd., just east of U.S. 31 in Whiteland, which opened earlier this month. The previous branch at 531 Tracy Road in New Whiteland was vacated in February and sits empty, waiting for bids.

The library originally put the building up for bid Jan. 10, with the bidding process scheduled to last through March 11. The library would accept bids starting at $837,000, but no bids for the 1.2-acre property came in during that time, director Lisa Lintner said in an email. The starting bid price comes from the average of two appraisals the library received on the property, she said.

The Johnson County Public Library held operations for its Clark Pleasant branch in the building for 20 years, starting in 2002. In recent years, library officials planned construction on the new, $8.8 million building that would create space for the Adult Learning Center, which used to be housed in Franklin, a youth program room for kids and teenagers and a STEAM Zones Robotics Learning Lab.

Next, the library will place a legal advertisement in the newspaper, after which it will engage a real estate broker. The broker will list the property on the market, which will undergo a traditional real estate sale, Lintner said.

With no interested bidders during the two months from January to March, there will be no minimum value for the property. The value will instead be determined by demand from buyers and the real estate market, spokesperson Jody Veldkamp said in an email.

The library has finished paying off the building and will receive almost 100% of the sale, minus a broker’s fee, he said.

Once the property is sold, the library will save the money for its next capital project, though library officials haven’t yet decided what that will be.