YREKA, Calif. – A historic Yreka building is getting a new lease on life with help from California’s Community Economic Resilience Fund.
The Siskiyou County Economic Development Council says it recently was awarded 2-point-1-million dollars to help rehabilitate the Carnegie Library. It was one of eight projects across the state granted funding through the Community Economic Resilience Fund.
“One of the reasons that we think this Carnegie Project is so cool is that it is going to showcase some strategies for how to actually utilize you know best case practices in restoration, in historic preservation, and reuse of a facility,” director Tonya Dowse said.
Kory Hayden, Program Manager at the Siskiyou County Economic Development Council, says the Carnegie Library project has been in the works since 2018.
“Our Carnegie Library was a really important community asset,” Hayden explained. “It was just about ready to become vacant at that time and it really needed a plan for its future use.”
Hayden says this new funding represents a true tipping point to successfully proceed and prepare for construction.
“It is an honor to be among these eight important and exciting projects to California and it speaks volumes to the recognition of our rural communities,” Hayden said.
Dowse says the building will be turned into a business and industry innovation hub.
Construction for this project is expected to start in October.
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