After 16 years of proposals and deals falling through, Galewood is once again tantalizingly close to getting its own neighborhood library.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th) told Austin Weekly News in a recent interview that the City of Chicago made an offer for the former Fifth Third Bank property at 1725 N. Harlem Ave. He said that the property owner responded with an offer to sell the property for $2.8 million, and the city is currently doing its due diligence. Taliaferro said that period is expected to take around three months, but he asked for an expedited review.
Assuming the city does buy the property, it is not clear how long it would take for the library to open. Taliaferro said that, to the best of his knowledge, the Chicago Public Library system intends to use the existing bank building and potentially build an addition. CLP didn’t respond to the request for comment.
The last full-fledged library to serve Galewood and Montclare neighborhoods was located at a 4,000-square-foot storefront of the mixed-use building at 6969 W. Grand Ave. Chicago Public Library system was leasing that space from a private landlord that ended up owing Chicago more than $70,000 in unpaid property taxes, fees and fines. As a city entity, CPL isn’t allowed to rent from a business or individual that owes Chicago money, so the branch closed when the lease expired on July 15, 2010.
The library then moved to a single 400-square-foot room inside the Rutherford Sayre Park fieldhouse. What was supposed to be an interim solution lasted until the COVID-19 pandemic. Since there was no way to safely socially distance in a space that small, the library remained closed even as most other branches reopened – and stayed closed as the pandemic restrictions were lifted.
Over the past few years, local legislators, State Sen. Don Harmon (D-39th) and State Rep. Camille Lilly (D-78th) secured a total of $7.6 million in state funding the city could use for a new Galewood branch library. Lilly confirmed to Austin Weekly News that the funding is still available.
The city came close to a deal in 2022. Developer Viktor Jakovljevic, of Five Thirty One Partners, agreed to let CPL use a portion of the retrofitted U.S. Bank building at 6700 W. North Ave. Chicago would buy the space in what officials described as a condo-style arrangement. But the two sides couldn’t agree on the price, and the deal fell through.
At the same time, Mars Wrigley hired Local Initiatives Support Corporation Chicago to come up with a community-driven plan for the future of the site of their Galewood candy factory. Putting in the library was one of the community recommendations.
In 2024, the city looked at another potential site for the Galewood library – a former furniture store at 1751 N. Harlem Ave. The city signed off on the purchase in January 2025, but that deal also fell through.
During the Dec. 2, 2025, community meeting about the proposed redevelopment of Mars factory site, one of the residents asked about the new Galewood library – which is when Taliaferro revealed the possible Fifth Third Bank site plans.
In a follow-up interview, he told Austin Weekly News that Mars factory wasn’t something that the city and CPL were seriously entertaining.
“The city has been in discussions [about the Fifth Third Bank site] for the last several months, and discussions have been very positive, so that was their first option,” Taliaferro said.
He said that, to the best of his knowledge, the library planned to keep the existing building and potentially build an addition. Taliaferro referred Austin Weekly News to CPL for further details.
The library didn’t respond to calls and emails requesting comment by deadline.
Judith Alexander, the chair of The North Avenue District, previously expressed support for the U.S Bank location. In a recent interview, she said that, while she would be “glad” to see Galewood library open somewhere, she “would prefer North Avenue, of course.”
“It would’ve been a great location.” Alexander said. “I think it’s a little more central to Galewood, and it’s also had parking, it had several bus lines, more convenient [to reach].”
The U.S. Bank property is served by CTA bus route 72/North and Pace bus route 331. The Fifth Third Bank location is directly served by CTA Route 90/Harlem and Pace Route 307, and it’s less than a block north of the spot where Route 72 turns around. And while it also has a parking lot, it has fewer parking spaces than the U.S. Bank property.
Steve Green, president of Galewood Neighbors community group, said that because Galewood is a largely residential neighborhood finding a spot for a new library has been inherently challenging.
“We’re hopeful that it’s going to get done,” he said. “[The Fifth-Third Bank location] is on the western edge of Galewood, which is not ideal. Obviously, we’d love to have something a little more central, but it’s a good location, there’s parking available. Some of the other sites didn’t have parking. And it has room to build a state of the art new library.”
