New details and timeline for Greenwood’s downtown facade project
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — The downtown restoration project in Greenwood is growing in scope and cost.
Construction work on the downtown facade project is set to begin in the next couple of weeks.
It will impact businesses and residents in the Old Town Greenwood area.
The goal is making the buildings look more like they did almost 100 years ago when many of them were built.
The city is betting that new facade work to downtown will bring in new business.
“We’re going to make it to where developers will want to come and work in the area and do further development,” project manager John Shell said.
The street-facing sides of most of the buildings will be replaced, 22 in total.
The first building on the list is a white one along Main St.
“All that white siding will be taken off, we’re restoring the brick look, and this was a Ford dealership so we’ll have the large windows that a car dealership used to have,” Shell said.
The city wants it to look like it used to back in its original form.
“It’ll be a modern building with a ’30s look,” Shell said.
Another building is the Revery restaurant at the corner of Main Street and Madison Avenue.
The tiles along the top of the building will be replaced with stained glass.
“We found photographs that showed the original stained glass and we’re looking to have that look go back in,” Shell said.
“We’re super excited about it. We do actually have the oldest building here in Greenwood, so it does need a little bit of attention to it,” Revery General Manager Eric Kett said.
The budget for the project has nearly doubled from its original cost, up to $1.4 million.
“The further the architect went in on looking for details on how we are going to do the work, the more they learned about the buildings,” Shell said. “When you have 100-year-old buildings, the more you look at them, the more you see their age.”
The project is being funded by the city’s Redevelopment Commission, partly by a federal grant, and 20 percent of the original estimated cost goes to the building owners.
Shell sees it as an important investment in the city’s future.
“We’re going to be in pretty good shape when we’re finished because these buildings are going to be ready to last another 40-50 years,” Shell said.
Some lane closures will take place through the downtown area at Main Street and Madison Avenue while the work is going on.
Watch for the construction to start in the next couple weeks.
It’s scheduled to wrap up by the end of the year.