The downtown plaza was scheduled to open to the public this coming Friday, July 28th but delays in construction has forced the opening to sometime in the fall.
Priced at $11.6 million, the plaza is part of an overall revitalization plan for the downtown area. The delay also impacts the new home for the Mill Market now known as “Soo Market” , which is moving it location from the canal district to the new plaza.
Despite the delay in construction, Tom Vair , deputy chief administrative officer for community development and enterprise services tells FirstLocalNews ” The project remains within the budget approved by Council.”
“Activities, events and vendors are taking shape for the new downtown plaza. City staff are excited with the submissions for the mobile retail units received by the Mill Market” Vair continued, ” inquiries to host events in the plaza, plans for a licensed patio area and the calendar of events underway.”
Once completed, the Downtown Plaza is designed to complement a new vision for Queen Street and the entire downtown strip. Those plans were discussed at the July 10th council meeting. Preliminary costs for the Queen Street re-design pegged around $20 million.
Isn’t that something. The smart money would have went to fix a few of the hundreds of destroyed streets that are torturing vehicles 24/7/365 instead of wasting it on something that was unneeded and unwanted. Is the former self serving mayor’s bronze statue that he ordered installed there yet?