Capitol View property that includes historic church purchased for new library

• JIm Stawniak/CL File
• Too early to tell if historic church on property would be part of new facility

Good news for folks hoping that the Atlanta-Fulton Library System would choose to build its new 25,000 square-foot branch on a property near Capitol View that includes a historic church.

On Dec. 21, the library system purchased the southwest Atlanta property near the intersection of Metropolitan Parkway and Dill Avenue, a spokeswoman tells CL.

Last year, system officials announced they were eyeing the property that included the historic Capitol View Baptist Church perched on a prominent spot a few hundred feet south of the Atlanta Beltline.

The new branch would be built with cash from a $275 million bond referendum voters approved in 2008 that will fund eight new libraries in Alpharetta, east Roswell, Milton, northwest Atlanta, Palmetto, southeast Atlanta, and Wolf Creek, and the expansion of the Auburn Avenue research library and the South Fulton branch. Once complete, the location will serve the Capitol View, Sylvan Hills and Pittsburgh neighborhoods, among others.

Nearby residents for years have hoped the church, which was built in the 1920s and most recently housed a social-service organization, could be preserved and repurposed into a performing arts center, affordable housing, mixed-use development, or library.

It’s too early to know if the church will be part of the library’s design. It’s safe to say that it’ll at least be considered. Library officials selected Smith Dalia Architects, a local firm with extensive adaptive reuse experience - its team designed the Westside’s White Provisions mixed-use development, Trees Atlanta’s Reynoldstown offices, the King Plow Arts Center and the Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts - and several other firms to design the new facility.

Library officials, the construction management team, and the architects are scheduled to sit down in the coming weeks to begin the design process.