Source: The Republic
EDINBURGH — Edinburgh officials are moving forward with plans to convert a parking lot to a new town plaza.
The hope is for construction to start on the new amenity at 201 W. Main Cross St. in the spring of 2026 and be finished by this summer, said SaraBeth Drybread, the town’s economic development director. The farmers’ market currently takes place at the site and will continue to be held there after construction.
Town officials still have a ways to go before construction. The Edinburgh Town Council recently approved the demolition of a building on the site of the future plaza. The town received a donation from the Conover Foundation to fund the demolition, and the structure is expected to come down in the next few months, Drybread said.
To help out with the plaza project, the town partnered with the Indiana University Center for Rural Engagement with the Rural Placemaking Studio program, said Nicole Vasconi, quality of place liaison with the center. Vasconi runs the center alongside Jonathan Racek from IU’s School of Art, Architecture and Design.
While the program doesn’t provide financial assistance for projects, it provides technical assistance with creating visualizations, renderings and copies of designs and schematics. The program focuses on public spaces, and the end products from the partnership can be used to start a capital campaign or crowdfunding, Vasconi said.
The goal for the Edinburgh project was to use the space to reflect the town’s character while also being usable for town officials, Racek said in a statement.
“The Edinburgh project is a great example of towns leveraging leftover spaces and turning them into vibrant community space,” Racek said. “Our goal with the Rural Placemaking Studio is to turn this parking lot into a space that reflects the local character and can be used all year round.”
This year, 17 projects in 17 communities were chosen for the Rural Placemaking Studio program through an application process, Vasconi said.
“[The program will] just really provide the design expertise needed to get some projects started …,” she said, “and then on the student side, it’s a professional development opportunity for our comprehensive design students.”
Seven undergraduate students are hired, alongside one or two graduate students, to get the scope of work from the community partners and create design options for their projects. There are multiple rounds of feedback and review, and the students will present their projects on IU’s campus in an open house showcase Sept. 4, Vasconi said.
Student Charlee Nelson worked on Edinburgh’s plaza project and said they’ve had “a great time” designing the space. The goal is to create a “comfortable, beautiful and inviting” space, Nelson said in a statement.
“At first, I thought that an empty lot might be a bit of a challenging site to design for, just because of all the different possibilities,” Nelson said. “However, I found that learning about Edinburgh’s community and culture has really been a great influence in shaping the design of the plaza.”
When working with Nelson, town officials and the community wanted key design elements to be incorporated, like a stage, a water feature and repurposed stones from the Edinburgh Dam, which was removed last year, Drybread said.
They also wanted to add high-capacity electric outlets that can be used by food trucks, a shade structure, signage and landscaping, she added.
The current design for the town plaza is preliminary, with a more final design expected to be given to town officials in the next few weeks. They have started the process of getting some quotes for the different elements of the project, and they will receive at least three bids for each key element of the design, Drybread said.
The town will request bids on the project in the fall for construction in spring 2026. Weather permitting, the hope is for the plaza to be open by May 2026 ahead of a summer of activities to be held in the space, she said.
“Ready for hopefully a summer concert series and then our farmer’s market always starts in the first of June,” Drybread said, “So, we’re really looking forward to having this all done and ready to do a ribbon cutting, at least by Memorial Day next year.”
The new town plaza was a recommendation as part of economic development that came out of the new comprehensive plan adopted last year, Drybread said.
Destination expert Roger Brooks’ company, Destination Development Association, has talked about the importance of public spaces for communities. His company put together a PowerPoint presentation that discussed how public downtown spaces will drive development, increase foot traffic for businesses and provide a third space for the community, she added.
“We want downtown Edinburgh to thrive, we want our businesses to thrive and we want a central location for our community to have year-round programming where they’re never really asking, ‘I wonder if there’s something going on,’ they’re asking, ‘I wonder what is going on this weekend at the plaza,’” Drybread said. “It’s really important, and it just creates just a better quality of life for every age in the community.”
Town council member Sherri Sweet, who is also the executive assistant to the Edinburgh schools superintendent, believes the plaza will draw people into Edinburgh.
“The plaza would be a community place, a gathering place,” she said, “and we need something like that to gather the people in town to have concerts and activities that will draw people into Edinburgh, realize what an amazing town we have and community and then want to settle here.”
Sweet envisions going to the town plaza every weekend to talk with all her friends and get to know people. She believes the town is “one humongous family,” and she wants to share that with those outside of Edinburgh, she said.
Vasconi believes community spaces like a town plaza are “essential” to create “vitality and connection” in a town. Communities are still dealing with isolation and loneliness from past COVID-19 restrictions, and a town plaza would allow “social cohesion,” pride in where they live and an opportunity for residents to engage with one another, Vasconi said.
“We see in a lot of small towns and rural communities all over that people really want space to connect and neutral space and places where they can host their own gatherings and events and spaces [that are] accessible and inclusive and people feel safe and welcome there,” Vasconi said.