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Posted: June 27, 2010 |(0) Comments

A former west side library building that's been vacant for seven years is on the verge of being sold.

A Milwaukee Common Council committee on Tuesday is expected to recommend the sale of the city's old Finney Library building to Wisconsin Lutheran College, for its pre-college program to operate there.

Work on the deal with the Pathways to College program has been going on since last fall.

The former library at 4243 W. North Ave. closed in 2003, when the new Washington Park Library branch opened a couple of blocks to the south.

Several rounds of requests for proposals since then did not turn up a viable buyer for the building, and the city finally rejected the last of the prior proposals earlier this year, issued another request for proposals, and chose the proposal from Pathways.

A city report filed with the Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee says the price of the building will be $125,000, plus some environmental costs. Expected project costs are $850,000, the report says.

The finished project will have four classrooms, a computer lab and a parent resource center, among other features, said Milton Cockroft, Pathways director. It'll be used for after-school programs now conducted at Hope Middle School, 3601 N. Port Washington Ave. Pathways' headquarters and some of its programs will remain at Wisconsin Lutheran in Wauwatosa, Cockroft said.

If the deal goes through, Cockroft said, he hopes to be operating there by the end of 2010.

He says Pathways will be raising money for the project through a "buy a brick" campaign.

Common Council President Willie Hines, who represents the area and has spoken highly of the Pathways program, says, "I don't foresee any problems" with the approval of the proposal.

"Given the importance of education," he said, "this will be very helpful to kids and families in that area."

"It took much longer than any of us would have liked it to be, but having Pathways there has been worth the wait," he said.

Pathways, which just finished its third year, expects to be working with 180 sixth- through ninth-graders at 17 Milwaukee schools in the fall - along with up to 100 fourth- and fifth-graders in a "Pathways Prospects" introductory program.

The middle-school and high-school program prepares the students academically, socially, spiritually and financially for college, according to the Pathways Web site and Cockroft, and requires them to attend weekly after-school sessions, monthly Saturday sessions, a two-week summer program, and special leadership training at St. John's Northwestern Military Academy in Delafield. It also requires parents to attend regular sessions.

Most of the schools with students in Pathways - though not all - are private religious or church-affiliated schools. The program is aimed at low-income families with no previous experience of college.

The program, funded by foundations and other contributors, plans to add another sixth-grade class each year until it's serving sixth- through 12th-graders.

The Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee will take up the sale of the library Tuesday. If that panel recommends it, the full council will take it up July 7.