Former Westfield library building to become school district event center

The former Westfield Washington Public Library building will become the Westfield Washington Schools Event Center. (Rendering courtesy city of Westfield)

The former Westfield Washington Public Library building is set to become a community center for the city’s school corporation.

The Westfield City Council this week unanimously approved a plan to renovate and convert the 32,000-square-foot former library at 333 W. Hoover St. into the $15 million Westfield Washington Schools Event Center and rezone the property to a planned unit development.

The community center will include space for the school district’s culinary arts program, Foodies Rock; student media program, Rock Media House; and student-led school merchandise store, Rock Shop. It will also include Shamrock Connections, which provides post-school job training for former students with disabilities, and meeting and event space. Construction is expected to begin this summer.

“How wonderful an opportunity this is for the plethora of Shamrocks, whether it be our foodies being able to get real-world experience [or] having a home for our Shamrock Connections program,” Westfield City Council member Victor McCarty said at Monday’s meeting. “The future opportunity here is wonderful.”

The former library between Westfield middle and high schools has been expanded three times since it was constructed in 1983. However, growth in Westfield and Washington Township created a need for a new building.

Westfield’s new 43,000-square-foot library—designed by Indianapolis-based krM Architecture—will have a grand opening Saturday at the corner of Park Street and Westfield Boulevard in Grand Millennium Center.

The new $17.7 million library at 17400 Westfield Blvd. will include more open space, an outdoor reading area, a large community room and a makerspace where people can record podcasts and video and use a 3D printer. It also will provide space for small-business entrepreneurs to meet with clients.

“We want to be a place that people can come in and get that access that they need more and more every day,” Sheryl Sollars, executive director of the Westfield Washington Public Library, said in 2022. “We want people to be able to come in and create things.”