By Joseph Quigley [1]
BELLEVILLE – After several years of planning and months of construction, the first part of Belleville’s revitalized downtown officially opens Thursday.
The ribbon-cutting event will take place on Front Street across from the Empire Theatre starting at 8 a.m.
Phase 1 of the downtown revitalization project [2] includes parts of Station Street from Church Street to Pinnacle Street and Front Street from Pinnacle to Victoria Avenue.
The project as a whole aims to reconstruct the entire downtown core over the next few years. The construction includes work on underground sewers and surface roads, lights and sidewalks. Phase 1 construction began in May.
The project recently came under debate at city council after it went over budget. [3] Originally, $21 million was budgeted for all three stages of the construction. But rising construction costs experienced during Phase 1 have city staff estimating that an additional $10 million will be necessary to complete all three stages of the project as planned.
Bids for the work on Phase 2 of the downtown revitalization are expected to come early next year.
QNet News will report from the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
More to come.