What’s going on with the sale of Boise’s Carnegie Library to the state of Idaho?

Editorials and other Opinion content offer perspectives on issues important to our community and are independent from the work of our newsroom reporters. It’s been three years since Idaho legislators approved funding for the state to purchase the historic Carnegie Public Library in Boise. Today, the building’s doors and first-floor windows are boarded up, and the property at 815 W.

Washington St. is listed as still owned by Swanby Investment Group, the company that bought the building in 2019. So what’s the status of the sale? “We’re still progressing with active negotiations with the seller, which are going well, and we hope that the deal closes soon,” Department of Administration director Steve Bailey wrote in an email to me Tuesday.

No word on why it’s taken so long to get the deal done. Shawn Swanby, a University of Idaho graduate and CEO of Ednetics, a North Idaho education technology services firm, who bought the property in 2019, didn’t respond to an email or voicemail. If the sale closes, it will be a long time coming.

Idaho legislators passed a bill approving $2.3 million for the purchase and design work of the Carnegie Library on the last day of the 2021 session, May 12. At the time, the intended purpose was to use part of the building for the University of Idaho law school.

The University of Idaho subsequently leased space in the Concordia Law building, after Concordia shut down its Boise law school. The funding bill didn’t stipulate that it had t.