Old Walpole Library to be Converted into Office Space

Last month the Board of Selectmen approved the sale of the old Walpole library building to a Walpole businessman for $213,000.

Albert Giandomenico, a Walpole resident, will turn the Common Street building into office space and move his insurance brokerage business, EIA Global, into the old library.

There is also a possibility that Giandomenico could allow other businesses to sublease part of the property.

“I believe I have the opportunity through the RFP to have at least one other business there, potentially, as a sublease," he told the Selectmen at their meeting Tuesday night. "My primary business will occupy the main room of the old library and would take up the bulk of the space. There may be an opportunity for the meeting room downstairs to have somebody else eventually, but the first move to get into would be my own business."

Giandomenico said that he doesn't plan on changing anything on the exterior of the building "other than improvements."

He said he has been working closely with neighbors, most of which would like to see the outside of the building remain the same.

"I plan on using the same footprint, the same building. I think it’s a nice historical building. You’ve got the 1908 back library along with the '67-'68 addition to it. I think it will be a good opportunity for me to expand my business and use it and be in conjunction with the neighborhood," he said.

I want to thank the Selectmen for the opportunity to purchase the library. It’s something that I didn’t always think about but when the opportunity came up I thought it had the best of interests being the next-door neighbor and having been a lifelong Walpole resident.”

The selectmen were pleased to see the nearly two-year process of determining the fate of the old library coming to an end.

“This I think brings to a conclusion a very long, exhaustive and thorough process from beginning to end as to what the future use of the library was,” said Selectmen Michael Berry.