Out goes the books and in comes a new business, hopefully: The soon-to-be empty 10,000-square-foot interim library building on Monterey Road is available for lease.
“We would have hoped to have someone waiting in the wings,” said Tammy Brownlow, president of Gilroy’s economic development corporation. “But it’s a wide open space, and I think it will be attractive to a lot of different businesses.”
The building – located at 7652 Monterey Road and is owned by Gary Walton of Custom One, Inc. in Gilroy – is ready to lease and not in need of repairs.
Brownlow said that the building will most likely be leased by an independent business owner rather than a chain or franchise of a larger company.
“Most of the businesses that are attracted to the downtown area are independent businesses,” she said. “And I think that speaks well to our local economy that you have people who are able to invest in the downtown.”
Walton said that stripmalls aren’t interested in mom-and-pop businesses, and work to keep them out, so by default, dowtowns are the place where people start new businesses. He said he wants the library building to be a place where new businesses can share a space for cheap rent while they test their business model before expanding.
“Like a business incubator,” Walton said.
Patrons of the Gilroy library can still return books a the book drop in front of the interim building as of this week.
