La Crosse City Council upholds South Library historic designation

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WLCX) – The La Crosse City Council voted to uphold the historic designation of the South Community Library, which was closed late last year due to budget reasons.

The library is in the process of being sold to a developer, who plans to renovate the library into multiple housing units.

La Crosse Mayor Mitch Reynolds appealed the historic designation, citing that the building didn’t meet any of the criteria to receive the designation.

Reynolds wrote that he was attempting to uphold the standards of the Historic Preservation Commission with the appeal.

The Council voted 8-3 to reject the appeal and keep the library designated as a historic structure.

Last month, the Economic and Development Commission accepted an amended proposal from Willow Grove LLC to convert the library property into 10 housing units — six inside of the library and four on the north side of the property. The developer had also intended on six additional housing units on the library’s south side, but that was removed by the city.

The library was designated a historic building earlier this year.