Photo provided An artist’s rendition of the proposed revamp of The Downtown Entrance Plaza.
The Columbus Redevelopment Commission on Monday unanimously approved engaging Indianapolis and Pittsburgh-based Merritt Chase to complete engineering plans and perform construction administration for the city’s new Downtown Entrance Plaza project.
The plaza consists of the 1.5 acres consisting of the POW/MIA/Law Enforcement Plaza north of State Road 46 and the Robert D. Garton Veterans Plaza south of the highway. The commission approved paying $285,640 as the not-to-exceed amount for those services, after the company completed the design process for which it received $50,000.
As a main entry into Columbus, approximately 28,000 vehicles pass by the plaza each day. The space, created in 2000 by world-renowned landscape architects Michael Van Valkenburg and Associates, is in need of upgrades after becoming overgrown and underutilized, according to city officials.
The project would represent “an opportunity to integrate this space into other current or future developments in the area,” redevelopment officials said. Some of those developments include the recently constructed 1821 Bicentennial Trail connecting to the plaza from the south and the future Riverfront Project.
“The project’s goals are to transform the landscape into a more desirable space, collaborate with local partners and adjacent projects, improve key design features and connectivity, and ensure the project’s integrity and universal accessibility,” according to city officials.
The redesign is expected to cost $3.95 million, and includes native planting gardens, new commemorations for firefighters and police, amphitheater seating, a main community lawn that could be used for events, picnic groves, winding garden paths and the addition of some sort of water feature on the plaza south of State Road 46.
