$5 million Northridge library project to break ground

Project will serve around 7,500 people in Northridge and nearly 11,000 people in Moorefield Twp.
Bill Martino, director of the Clark County Public Library, talks about the future site of the library's Northridge Branch Thursday, March 7, 2024. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Credit: Bill Lackey

Credit: Bill Lackey

Bill Martino, director of the Clark County Public Library, talks about the future site of the library's Northridge Branch Thursday, March 7, 2024. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

The Clark County Public Library will hold a groundbreaking this month for the construction of one of its new locations, a Northridge branch expected to serve thousands of patrons after a long time in the planning stages.

The Northridge branch library, a new construction project, will be located at 4925 Middle Urbana Road, which is about seven miles from the main branch in downtown Springfield.

Library director Bill Martino said it “feels great” to plan the groundbreaking for the location.

“It seems like it’s taken forever to officially begin seeing some tangible results of all of the behind the scenes work that has been put into this project,” he said. “I am confident that the diligence of the library administration and board, the architects and the contractor, will result in a branch that the Northridge community will be happy to call their own.”

Along with Luminaut Architecture, the architects of the new building, the event will be held at 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 13, for the new library location.

Martino, library board members and architects from Luminaut will speak during the groundbreaking.

A larger program with activities and more for the community will also be scheduled as things move along with the building.

The groundbreaking is open to local community members. This branch is expected to open in spring 2025.

Northridge Library Branch concept design rendering of the front entrance facade off of the parking lot. Provided by Luminaut/Contributed by Clark County Public Library

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A pre-bid meeting for the branch was held in February and a special meeting in March to open bids received for the work.

Martino said the base bid they accepted was from Pepper Construction Company of Ohio for $5,028,000.

This branch will have dedicated adult, teen and children’s areas and materials, multiple meeting rooms and study areas for the public to use, and an outdoor multiuse programming and reading patio that backs up to Moorefield Family Park.

It will serve around 7,500 people in Northridge and nearly 11,000 people in Moorefield Twp.

The architects and designers at Luminaut have held multiple public and staff input meetings for the location, and the design for the branch reflects the requests and ideas that came out of those sessions, officials said.

Along with this new location, the library is also opening another branch at 191 S. Tuttle Road, on the east side of Springfield in the shopping plaza near Walmart. More information on this addition will be released as officials get closer to an opening date this fall.

This roughly 5,000-square-feet location will feature a small meeting room, study rooms, computers, books and materials.

The Clark County Public Library system has multiple branches, with three in Springfield, one in Enon and one in South Charleston. The library also has a bookmobile that travels around the county.

It had a circulation of more than one million items in 2023 and saw on average over 25,000 visitors a month.

For more information about the library, visit www.ccplohio.org or call 937-328-6903.

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