City Seizes McKinley Park Library Building For “Public’s Good”

City officials officially seized the McKinley Park public library branch (6802 Fort Hamilton Parkway) Monday – using the power of eminent domain – after failing to strike a deal with the library’s owner to purchase the property, reports the Commercial Observer.

As we reported in March, the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) offered the building’s owners $2.4 million to buy the building, which is among just seven out of the city’s 60 public library branches that are privately owned.

Previously, the city rented the property for $20,000 per month from private trust run by an Arizona bank, but that lease expired in June.  The bank was trying to raise the location’s rent to market rates to an amount beyond the library’s means.

The power of eminent domain allows the city to seize a property for the public’s good. In the request, the city said wrote that over the building would ensure “the continued operation” of the Dyker Heights location, which is in need of significant repairs. The owner of the library will be paid “fair market value.”

A BPL representative shared this statement with the Commercial Observer:

“The majority of our 60 branches are owned by the city, which ensures that BPL’s scarce resources are spent on high-quality programs and services for our patrons, rather than on rent and utilities,” a BPL spokeswoman wrote in an email. “City ownership of McKinley Park will create long-term financial savings for the Library, and an opportunity to make significant capital investments in the building that will allow us to better meet the needs of one of BPL’s busiest branches.”

The city also used this strategy when it acquired the privately owned Ulmer Park branch in Bath Beach six years ago, and it is currently pursuing the Gravesend Library, the New York Daily News reported in March.