Webster officials are weighing whether to keep renting space for the town’s public library or invest roughly $29 million in a new building before the current lease expires in 2032.
For nearly a quarter century, the Webster Public Library has operated out of a commercial plaza off Hard Road.
One of the library’s more onerous expenses is its monthly building charges, which total more than $40,000, including rent ($22,024), common area maintenance ($10,288), and taxes ($7,811). The high monthly costs means the library, which director Adam Traub called “house poor,” only spends about half what its peer libraries do on its collections.
“Does Webster want to invest in something that it owns, or does it want to continue to invest in a home that’s been good to us, but something that’s privately held and is not really owned by the residents of Webster?” Traub said.
Webster Public Library, which welcomed nearly 200,000 visitors in 2025, is weighing whether to continue to lease space in Webster Plaza or build a new building. The Town of Webster has already hosted an informational town hall on the topic and is seeking community input before making the decision.
It’s a question the library was already considering before Traub took over as director in 2022. Town Supervisor Alex Scialdone met with Traub and the town engineer to look at a timeline to complete construction on a new library before the lease ends. The rough timeline calls for a site identified by the end of next year.
“We said let’s do this now, six years out, so that every step along the way people are engaged and people are informed as much as humanly possible,” Scialdone said.
One complication is funding. As the library operates in a leased space, state construction aid requires assurances it would remain at that location for at least a decade.
With the current lease ended in 2032, officials said renovations wouldn’t be eligible until a new lease is in place. It would instead be funded by groups like the volunteer nonprofit Webster Library Foundation or Friends of the Webster Public Library. The library recently received an anonymous donation of $10,000.
The state can provide up to 50% of the total project cost of library construction, based on budget allocations.
The current library will have been in Webster Plaza for 30 years by the end of the lease, roughly the length of a mortgage. Traub said during that time, the library has paid $13 million renting the space; he estimates a similarly sized library would have cost about $8 to $10 million in 2001.
“I think now that we’ve got the longitudinal data, we know that owning ends up in our favor in the long run. I think that we had a good deal when we first got in here and I think we’ve got 30 years of data to show where we’re at and I think it’s time to look for a new home,” Traub said.
Staying in the current space is an option that’s still very much on the table. But Traub has already started scouting locations, using a custom rubric to evaluate them on criteria like available space, location and proximity to other town assets.
The current library also wrestles with some practical issues. The open space lends itself to dramatic installs like the volcano and dragon egg on display this summer, but Traub would like to have more study rooms and other functional space. The library is also L-shaped, which isn’t conducive to sightlines that are important for safety in a space often used by children.
The library often rents out other spaces or works with partners in other towns to hold larger events because they don’t control the space outside the library or have a good event-focused space inside.
“The kind of layout, it’s not ideal. Obviously if we want to renovate, we’re within our rights because it’s a triple net lease, but any renovation we do stays with the building,” Traub said.
A triple net lease requires a tenant to pay rent and ongoing expenses like taxes. This typically results in lower rent than a standard lease and more control of the appearance and maintenance of the building, but the tenant assumes additional costs, including insurance and taxes.
Despite concerns over long-term costs, renewing the lease and remaining at Webster Plaza remains on the table. One chief benefit of the current library is its location.
“The biggest pro over here, though, is how central we are to the community,” Scialdone said.
The library is close to Webster Town Hall, other municipal buildings and Ridge Park. It’s located close to state Route 104 and central to town residents, aspects officials want to maintain if a new library is constructed.
The biggest restriction to a new library is finding a parcel which can meet the needs, which Traub said is about 4 to 5 acres. Half of that acreage would be for parking.
One location that’s been mentioned in community discussions, online and in-person, is the former Rite Aid at the corner of Hard and Ridge roads. Others have mentioned space at the Xerox campus. Traub said many of those sites might be too small or require extensive renovations but are all under consideration.
“Right now there’s no clear forefront winner. There’s no ‘absolutely not’ situation. We’re evaluating absolutely everything and Adam [Traub] is doing an absolutely incredible job at looking into all of that,” Scialdone said.
The town plans to have another informational town board workshop this fall, likely in September. In the meantime, any questions can be directed to Scialdone or Traub. So far, community feedback has been mostly very supportive, officials said.
“People have been very thankful for the long-term thinking that we’re doing of, ‘let’s talk about this now. Let’s not talk about this when we’re up against the wall,’” Scialdone said.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Webster library weighs $29M move as lease deadline nears
Reporting by Steve Howe, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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By Steve Howe, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | USA TODAY Network
