New Olathe library brings ‘vitality to the downtown.’ It’s all part of a master plan

With shovels in hand, library employees, city council members and others working on Olathe’s new downtown library broke ground for the project Sept. 18. The building will sit between Poplar and Santa Fe streets, two blocks east of the Johnson County District Courthouse.

The Downtown Library is now located in a temporary space at 1078a W. Santa Fe St. It’s been there since April 2020, as the city has already sold its old location.

Sara Eccles, branch manager, said that the new building is part of a master plan that started more than five years ago as a result of a study that showed the two Olathe libraries were not big enough to adequately serve the population of Olathe. The Indian Creek branch opened its new, larger location in October 2019.

“I think it’s good, because we are still in the heart of downtown, only a couple of blocks from where we used to be. We’re going to be really walkable, which will make us really good for all the neighborhoods around us. It just brings a vitality to the downtown as well,” Eccles said.

Sandwiched between the Chestnut Fine Arts Center to the north and the Civic Center Park to the south, this library won’t be sprawling, but it will be tall, with four floors.

Features of the new building will include a coffee shop, study spaces, meeting rooms and a multi-use events space with theater-style seating that can fold back into the wall when not in use.

Olathe’s Chamber of Commerce will have its headquarters in the building, too. The building will have about 41,800 square feet of space, including the area set aside for the chamber, compared to the old building’s 25,000 square feet.

The planning process included several focus groups with residents, the city council and other community members. Planners also visited several newer libraries to get ideas for building features.

Eccles said that study space, meeting rooms and gathering places were high on everyone’s list. All that extra space will make a nice change, Eccles said.

“With the old building, we had run out— we did not really have programming space there any longer,” she said.

The multi-use space in particular will be a highlight.

“I think it’s going to be a really nice, big flexible space for us to do lots of different things. It’s going to have glass on three sides, so it’s going to really open up to the outside. There’s a streamway that’s going to go right on the other side of it. Hopefully, in time, with some trees growing up, it’ll be a nice outdoorsy space inside,” Eccles said.

People in the community are already excited about what the new building will bring.

“I think that it’s going to be amazing. I’m looking forward to how big and open it is,” said 12-year-old Elijah Waitiki, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony.

The $25 million project is a result of collaborations with LANE4 Property Group, DLR Group and GouldEvans. Construction officially starts this month, and Eccles anticipates that it will be done in early 2023.

This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "New Olathe library brings ‘vitality to the downtown.’ It’s all part of a master plan."