Plan would add pavilions, outdoor stage
Southern Indiana Business Report
WASHINGTON – A multimillion dollar downtown project is nearing its next steps in the city of Washington.
As reported by WTWO in Terre Haute, the Washington Commons project is looking to revitalize part of the downtown area for “an outdoor gathering space” on Main Street. It will include multiple pavilions and a performing arts stage.
Last month, city officials accepted a $3.5 million bid, contingent on putting the funding together.
Bryant Niehoff, executive director of the Daviess Economic Development Corporation, said the city council will pay $2 million, the county commissioners will pay $750,000, and his office was working to secure the rest of the funding with other partners.
“The goal is to close on the financing by the end of this month. It’ll be up to the contractor and working through the contract with them on when they can start,” he said regarding the timeline. “In talking with the contractor, they feel that the project can start anytime once these details have been wrapped up, so it’s on the horizon, which is exciting.”
Niehoff said this project addresses a number of concerns city leaders have heard from residents over the years.
“Some of the feedback we continue to get from the community as we get into our economic and community development is that there needs to be more events. There needs to be more things happening in Washington and Daviess County, and ‘oh, by the way, we need to step up our beautification efforts,’” he said. “That’s what we continue to hear. So this project will certainly do both of those things for the community.”
Niehoff said he was excited about what the project could bring to the community, and how it fits with numerous other ongoing initiatives.
“Just this past year we announced over $37 million investment in housing. Just in Washington alone. That’s just with projects we’ve been involved in with public/private partnerships, let alone the construction projects that are happening,” he said. “It’s phenomenal to see these things fall into place.”