The $6.1 million project started with a need to stabilize the parking garage below the plaza because the expansion joints and protective membrane had deteriorated. The plaza essentially serves as a roof to the underground garage.
The work expanded to include reinventing what Bryan Heck, the city manager, has called a “sea of concrete” on the plaza into something better suited and more inviting for the public and the hundreds of events staged there through the year.
That will include more green space, enhanced lighting, public art space panel walls and other features.
“Currently, we’re working toward the final stages of Phase I, which comprises about 75 percent of the total project,” Lough said.
J.L. Cook Construction of Ludlow Falls in Miami County has stripped the entire back deck over the parking garage and now is installing waterproofing systems, Lough said.
After that, crews will restore all of the hard surfaces and install the new features in the plaza, including the greenspace, two leaping flow fountains and seating areas, she said.
“The public can expect to see significant changes this fall,” Lough said.
Crews anticipate that Phase II, work on the street-facing intersection of Fountain Avenue and High Street, will start at the end of August. By then, officials believe work on the parking garage below City Hall will be in its final stages.
As part of Phase II of the renovation, crews will strip existing plaza stone and remove the steps, Lough said. That will be replaced with new steps and accessibility features, plus a flower bed.
The sculpture that currently rests in front of City Hall will be removed.
Said Lough: “Discussions about where it will be relocated are ongoing, and the sculpture will be placed in temporary storage.”