For the first time in 15 years, Evansville has a Downtown Master Plan.
Its predecessors include proposals from 1927, 1984, 1995, and 2001, the last of which Evansville Business examined in the August/September 2002 feature “Master Success.”
Over a decade ago, people weren’t talking about the Multi-Institutional Academic Health Science Education and Research Facility, a DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, and the Ford Center. In those days, conversation circled around a baseball stadium and minor league team, bringing the old canal back to life, and a Civic Center Plaza.
While details have changed, core community values remain. As the 2016 plan delineates, Evansville’s residents aspire to activate Main Street and the riverfront, cultivate innovation in a “NoCo Makers District,” connect spaces with modernized transportation options, and develop a strong residential neighborhood.
After conducting studies in the community, the City and its strategic planning partners, Progressive Urban Management Associates, Rundell Ernstberger Associates, and Hafer PSC say Evansville is primed for change to ignite.
“Every vibrant city has a strong urban core,” says Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, “and I’m very satisfied that the plan reflects what the participants want.”
The 124-page plan publication is just that — a visual and verbal representation of public interest.
The first in a series of maps focuses on the placement of eye-catching gateways into Downtown and prospective bicycle and pedestrian improvements, like veins throughout the district. The maps ultimately converge into one, layered with the probable locations of entertainment and manufacturing progress.
After the maps are renderings of completely reinvented riverfront and parks spaces and descriptions of the roads to a better Downtown.
Those roads include detailed explanations of why the area north of Court Street is important in redefining the Evansville production landscape and why two new piers could revitalize the banks of the Ohio. They hypothetically carry readers to the goal of a diverse Downtown residential experience.
For more information about the Evansville Downtown Master Plan, call the Southwest Indiana Chamber at 812-425-8147 or visit swinchamber.com/downtown-masterplan.
