William (Bill) La Macchia, the developer and top donor behind the North Shore Library's new Bayside home, has now scooped up the library's former Glendale building at 6800 N. Port Washington Road. With that sale, a longtime community hub shifts back into private ownership, and what comes next for the property is anyone's guess. La Macchia was on hand for the new library's March 14 dedication and has been publicly tied to the OneNorth development that provided the new space.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin Department of Revenue records show the City of Glendale sold the former North Shore Library at 6800 N. Port Washington Road for $750,000 to Liv Enterprises LLC, which the paper reports is headed by La Macchia. Library official Margaret Zitzer described the deal as a "full-circle moment," the outlet noted, and La Macchia wrote in an email to the Journal Sentinel that "the group is still working on ideas for the property." The transaction appears in recent city property records, according to the reporting.
Donor Ties And The New Library
The La Macchia family has been front and center in the Bayside project. The North Shore Library's news release states that William (Bill) La Macchia pledged $1 million to create the Sharon La Macchia Children's Section and notes that the new library sits in first-floor space within the OneNorth mixed-use building. Library officials say the Bayside location opened to the public on Feb. 2, followed by a formal grand-opening celebration on March 14. Taken together, that sizable donation and La Macchia's role in OneNorth go a long way toward explaining why the Glendale purchase drew such quick attention.
OneNorth And What Comes Next
The latest purchase lands in the middle of a long-running redevelopment push at OneNorth, the mixed-use project that planners have pitched as a major, multi-phase investment in the village. Local coverage has previously pegged OneNorth's total valuation at about $200 million, and earlier approvals have included a $40 million, 153-unit senior living community on the site, according to prior reporting. The OneNorth website outlines the project's mixed-use ambitions and spotlights the new library as an anchor for public events and retail activity.
For now, neighbors and longtime library patrons are in wait-and-see mode. Any redevelopment of the old Glendale site would need permits and public approvals, and La Macchia's team has yet to submit formal plans.
