This Vacant Building Will Be the New Home of the Portage District Library
The iconic Portage District Library at the city's center will be closing for renovations for an entire year beginning in April 2021 and will be moving its entire collection to this building on Portage Road near the airport.
The library announced on its Facebook page a month-long closure of the library while the entire collection is relocated to the vacant Portage road building that once housed a State Farm call center.
Why is the Portage Library Closing?
During most of April and May in 2021 the services of the Portage library will be completely unavailable. The library building is slated to close on April 12 and the entire collection of the library will be transferred to the temporary location at 5528 Portage Road. On May 10 the library reopens at the new facilty. The library is expected to be at this temporary location for an entire year and return to the Library Lane location (that's the current library off of Westnedge near City Hall) in April 2022.
What's Happening to the Current Portage Library?
The renovations, planned since 2016 and funded by a millage supported by voters in 2019 will make the following upgrades, according to a library release:
- Redesigned entrance with accessibility improvements
- Two-floor expansion on the east side of the building
- Additional small meeting rooms and study spaces
- Maker space and Creation Station
- Family bathrooms
- Mother’s Room
- Relocating the Heritage Room to the main level
- Upgrades to existing infrastructure
So patrons of the Portage District Library, you waited out the 2020 pandemic closures, so stock up now for the construction closures.
There are thousands of items in the Portage Library collection (just ask the staff who is about to be tasked with moving them all), and we've got counts on many more things across America, check them out:
How Many in America: From Guns to Ghost Towns
Portage is one of the great hometowns in Southwest Michigan, does it rank on the top towns in the midwest?