Springfield moving forward with plans for $3 million City Hall Plaza renovation
Oct. 31—Springfield officials are inching closer to finalizing plans for a $3 million City Hall Plaza facelift that's aimed at reimagining and reinvigorating the popular public space where events ranging from concerts to rallies are held.
The project, which the city has been planning for several years, will include renovations to the parking garage below the plaza.
City commissioners held a work session on Tuesday to review the plans and iron out other details, and officials said they hope to begin construction next year. The city did not give a specific start date, but the goal is to complete the project in 2022 or early 2023, Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck said.
Funds from the American Recue Plan — designed to help the country recover from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic — will bankroll the project, Heck said.
Springfield will receive a total of $44.2 million in American Rescue Plan dollars, and half of it has already been allocated to the city this year. The city is scheduled to receivethe second installment next year. Officials have until 2024 to determine how that money will be used, as the deadline to spend those funds is the end of 2026.
Springfield started discussions about renovating the plaza in 2018, when officials realized that parts of it would have to be torn up in an effort to repair the parking garage.
The design for the plaza is based on recommendations from focus groups comprised of Springfield residents.
Renditions of what the new plaza could look like were created in 2020, and plans discussed included replacing existing concrete, adding more green space, benches, lighting and creating a more open environment as well as making it more accessible to the public.
The plan is to replace patchy or uneven concrete as well as continue to add green space and make the area more open and inviting to residents. That includes inserting new benches, tables, greenery and other possible fixtures.
The City Hall Plaza has been described as a sea of concreate in the past, and officials felt it needed to be re-imagined. With much needed repairs to the parking garage below in the works, officials thought it was the right time to improve the plaza.
"The plaza was intended for that when this was constructed back in the (1970s). It has grown tired. It needs to be re-imagined. It needs to be reinvented and to continue to be that public space for our community, for everyone," Heck told the News-Sun last year.
The American Rescue Plan, passed earlier this year, will give the city another funding source to conduct that work as those dollars can be used for projects that aim to provide more outdoor and greenspace for the community.
The parking garage below the the plaza was built in 1979, and is in much need of repairs as the concrete surrounding the garage and plaza has not held up over time. That has resulted in a lot of maintenance costs for the city.
Work on the garage includes repairing water damage as well as making the structure stronger and more secure.
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