Lawrenceburg May Hire New Company To Design Civic Park

By Mike Perleberg A preliminary proposal for a potential new civic park plaza at Short and High streets in Lawrenceburg. Image by Strand Associates. (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) - The City of Lawrenceburg continues to work toward a new downtown civic park plaza. After some brief discussion Monday, the Lawrenceburg Redevelopment Commission voted unanimously to recommend Strand Associates as the architect for the proposed park. The only other bidder on the project was American Structurepoint, which last year developed a multi-million dollar plan for creating economic development, recreational, and retail opportunities along the city’s riverfront. Although they could have stuck with American Structurepoint, Lawrenceburg City Council voted in January to put out a request for proposals for the civic park piece of the project. “Both had decent presentations and both had great concepts. I think Strand might have changed the paradigm a little bit and made us think a little differently about the use of the plaza as a year-round opportunity, not just summertime stuff,” says city coordinator and redevelopment director Bryan Messmore, adding the city has used Strand Associates for other projects in the past. The proposed location for the park is the parking lot at the corner of Short and High streets, where Lawrenceburg Main Street’s Music on the River summer concerts are held. Unlike Structurepoint’s proposal, Strand’s does not include a grand staircase leading up to the top level of the city parking garage on the east side of Ivy Tech Community College. “They do some interesting things with the streets. They would blend in colors and textures of the street with the park, so that when you close the streets it doesn’t look like there’s a street there. It looks like part of the park, so when we do close the streets for events the park size really kind of doubles,” Messmore explains. Lawrenceburg City Council will have the final say on whether to hire Strand Associates when members meet on Monday, May 15. Further design work will likely need to be completed before a budget figure can be approved, says Messmore. “We’ll just have to work through the design and those design elements will lead us back to the budget,” he adds. In January, city council discussions in a public meeting mentioned a budget of about $4 million for the park. It is unclear if that expectation has changed. Messmore says the city is continuing efforts to acquire some properties surrounding the civic park plaza area. Strand Associates has designed a number of parks in major cities, including the Bicentennial Plaza at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis and Scioto Mile & Bicentennial Park in Columbus, Ohio. RELATED STORIES: Council Wants Competition For L’burg Riverfront Design Contract Master Plan Proposes New-Look Lawrenceburg Riverfront; Construction Could Start In ’17 View Three Lawrenceburg Riverfront Concepts Lawrenceburg Riverfront Visions Revealed AUDIO: Lawrenceburg Mayor Dishes On City Development Plans City Of Lawrenceburg Seeks Public Opinion For Riverfront Master Plan