Eureka Springs’ historic Carnegie Public Library is now in the property management business.
After the library board purchased the Garden Building next door to the library annex in 2018, the upstairs space has been renovated into a one-bedroom apartment and a two-bedroom apartment with a shared balcony overlooking Spring Street. Each has two bathrooms, updated kitchens, original pine wood floors and patio-like fire escapes nestled against native limestone.
The library is asking $1,500 for the one-bedroom apartment and $2,200 for the two-bedroom at 190 Spring St. Central heat and air, inunit laundry and all utilities are included.
“We arrived at the rent prices the same way anyone would — it’s the price that reflects the cost/value of the totally remodeled spaces,” said Katie Ambach Wood, secretary of the library board. She and board treasurer Katie Zerr oversee marketing and showing the properties.
The board originally planned to use the upstairs apartments as nightly rentals to pay the mortgage and renovations, Wood said.
“Since then, rents have gone up considerably in Eureka, and long-term rentals are harder to find, partly because of how much housing has been turned into nightly rentals,” she said.
“We decided that we really wanted the apartments to be used by people who wanted to live in Eureka,” she added.
So far, there have been several prospects — one call came from Australia — but no takers. A strict “no pets” policy is a hang-up for some inquirers.
The Garden Building storefront downstairs was the old Crystal Garden Antiques, run and owned by longtime resident Mary Ellen Sheard. She lived upstairs in the space that is now the two apartments.
With the Carnegie library just two doors away and the library’s annex between the two buildings, it just made sense for the library board to acquire it, said Lucilla Garrett, longtime president of the Eureka Springs Carnegie Public Library board.
At the time the board bought the property, they didn’t realize the extent to which it would need renovating, Garrett said.
“That’s called old building syndrome in Eureka,” she said.
The building needed a new foundation and roof, rewiring and new plumbing. The board went through two contractors – and the process was slowed by COVID-19 – before a third, Katzer Construction, shouldered the project.
To help with the cost, the library board raised $200,000 from a wide range of donors that included a former Eureka Springs resident who gave a $50,000 matching grant.
“We also had a lot of $5 and $10 donations,” Garrett said. “Each and every donation was equally important because it meant that people cared about the library.”
The campaign lasted two years but was interrupted when the elevator in the Carnegie library went out, which required more funds.
The main library was built in 1910 at 194 Spring St., and the library’s annex was added at 192 Spring St. a few years after the library celebrated its Centennial in 2010. The annex houses the Friends of the Library and a community room and media center where patrons can log on and use shared computers.
In December alone, 176 adults, 40 teens and 63 children attended 41 events and programs at the library. Patrons checked out some 4,443 items, including books, audiobooks, e-book downloads, magazines or DVDS. There’s even a “library of things,” including a ukulele, gardening tools and a telescope, Garrett said.
“For a town of roughly 2,000, that’s a lot,” she said.
The downstairs is a mess — floor-to-ceiling storefront windows give a street-level view to exposed framing and a whole lot of dust.
If and when the upstairs apartments are leased, “there is a possibility that a part of the downstairs might be able to be used by the library as meeting rooms,” Wood said.
“This would allow us to free up more space in the other library buildings to expand the collection, and – ideally allow for a bigger space for children and teens.”
