by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
When are a sofa and chairs not just a sofa and chairs?
When they are part of the collection of furniture still inside the Haydon Burns Library.
While much of the office furniture remaining in the library will probably be sent to the City’s surplus warehouse or donated to service organizations, some of the pieces were designed just for the building and reflect its early 1960s-style architectural elements.
Main Branch, LLC’s plans for the mixed-use development of the building include keeping some of the one-of-a-kind furniture.
“We want to display some of the furniture in the public spaces,” said Main Branch’s Tony Allegretti.
City Council member Art Graham toured the building Tuesday with Ron Barton, Jacksonville economic Development Commission executive director, Allegretti and Main Branch partner Jack Shad. Graham was there to determine which pieces of furniture were suitable for preservation and what part of the inventory should be designated surplus or provided to non-profit organizations.
“It’s all usable furniture,” said Graham. “We put it out for auction and nobody came. Some of the original stuff was put here in 1965, so it’s retro. Somebody wants it. I’m just looking to see what the options are.”
Barton pointed out that while the furniture was not included in the original purchase price, there is value in keeping some of the pieces with the building and the agreement can be amended.
“We want to get fair compensation for the furniture. The value here is that it’s unique to the building. I don’t know how you put a number on that,” said Barton.
“We’ve been through so much on the acquisition of this building, I’m not going to start a fight about anything. We just want to close on it and get started,” added Allegretti.
The next step is to have the furniture inventoried and its value determined.
“I don’t want to just unload something of great value,” said Graham. “We’re talking about taxpayers’ dollars.”