Library might pull out of struggling Glendale Mall

The building committee of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public has voted unanimously to move its branch out of Glendale Mall—a potential blow to Kite Realty Group’s attempt to redevelop the site into an open-air mall.

The library announced this afternoon that the new configuration wouldn’t be conducive to patron access and would make moving materials more difficult.

“The Glendale Branch is by far the most expensive branch in the system to operate, and we simply cannot justify that sort of cost for less favorable circumstances,” board President Louis Mahern said in a statement.

A final decision is expected Jan. 18.

A new location for the branch, one of 22 the system operates, won’t happen until the system finishes a demographic study of the Marion County later this year.

The branch opened in October 2000 with 29,000 square feet, and has 140,000 materials. It logs more than 500 patron visits a year.

In November, IBJ reported Kite was in final negotiations to attract Target to the mall, one of the first enclosed malls in the city.