Cleator Touts Sears Site for Downtown Library

Councilman and mayoral candidate Bill Cleator said Monday that the closing of the Sears store in Hillcrest represents a long-awaited solution to replacing the old central library in San Diego.

Cleator bucked ongoing plans to construct a new library downtown--the location preferred by some city officials--and proposed that the Sears building on Cleveland Avenue in Hillcrest be home to what is the largest library staff and collection of books south of Los Angeles.

The present central library, on E Street between 8th and 9th avenues, has a meager 140,000 square feet and has long been recognized as unable to meet the city’s growing needs.

Virtues of Site

At a press conference in the Sears building parking lot, Cleator cited easy accessibility and 1,100 parking spaces as the site’s foremost virtues. He added that renovation costs would be considerably less than the estimated $40 million to $54 million needed to build a new library at the Community Concourse, one of several downtown sites being studied by the Centre City Development Corp., the city’s nonprofit redevelopment agency.

Cleator’s office put the purchase price of the Sears building at roughly $7 million to $8 million, but no figures were provided for the cost of renovation.

“We have the opportunity right here, right now, and we’re going to have to move quickly,” Cleator said of the cavernous 265,000-square-foot community landmark scheduled to close in March.

Financing Questioned

Other council members express interest in the Sears site but question financing--the Hillcrest site is ineligible for tax increment redevelopment funds, while a downtown site would be--and doubt the city’s ability to meet the proposal’s rapid timetable.

“I’m intrigued by the idea of a library at the old Sears building. It’s in an old area that could probably use the revitalization,” Councilman William Jones said. “But where will the dollars come from if it’s not in a tax increment area. My mind is open, but I have a lot of questions.”

Interest Shown

Cleator said his office had contacted Sears representatives, and they had shown interest in the proposal. However, Sears is anxious to decide the building’s fate, he said, and the library issue has so far proven to be a slow-moving, cumbersome debate.

Councilman Mike Gotch said he found the Sears proposal interesting but wanted to hear specific details on renovation. “The Sears site is certainly worth exploring, but just because it’s an empty building and has lots of parking doesn’t mean it’s ideal for a library,” he said.

An informal poll of 28 chapters of the Friends of the San Diego Library this weekend showed overwhelming support for the Sears site, said Friends President Betty Sherman.

The San Diego Library Commission also favors renovation of the Sears building because of its proximity to bus routes--at least five stops are within a short walk to the building--and its abundance of free parking, said Library Commissioner Robert Magness.