Library Acquires Adjoining Property for $785,000

New Canaan Library has purchased a property on the corner of South Avenue and Maple Street for $785,000, according to a property transfer recorded in the Town Clerk’s office.

The property at 56 South Ave. includes a .27-acre lot with an 88-year-old home, tax records show.

The library purchased it April 19, records show.

Asked about the acquisition, library Interim Co-Director Susan LaPerla said that in the 100 years that the library has been at its current location, other adjoining properties have come onto the market—including one that had been tucked in the middle of the Maple Street block that was acquired more than five years ago and now serves as an additional parking area.

LaPerla said: “We have the opportunity to enlarge our campus with this acquisition and we are in a position to be able to do that because of private contributions to the library.”

The town in the past has made an annual contribution to the library that is used not for real property acquisitions but for operational costs, such as utilities and wages for staff members.

Next year, the library is set to receive $1.9 million from the town—a zero percent increase from what had been allocated the year before. During the budget process, officials praised the library as a community resource that responded to the call in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

With the acquisition of the 1925 home, the library owns all but two properties on the block: 48 South Ave. and the Gulf station on the corner at Cherry Street. Asked about the library’s plans for the property just bought, LaPerla said only “future use.”