Downtown’s Repentance Park is getting a face-lift.
Construction work officially began Feb. 6 and is expected to conclude Sept. 3 on the green space between the River Center, City Hall and the Old State Capitol.
The park is being remodeled to increase accessibility and functionality, said Davis Rhorer, executive director of the Downtown Development District.
The redesign is meant to create an influx of activity in the City Hall Plaza area and to enhance the connection to North Boulevard Town Square, the Old State Capitol and the Shaw Center for the Arts via a pedestrian promenade down St. Philip Street, according to a DDD announcement.
“The space has not functioned in the way that we had hoped it would when it was first designed in 1977. It had a different meaning back then,” Rhorer said. “So we wanted a space that would draw people in and link it together [with Town Square].”
The park will feature shady trees and a new interactive fountain.
The existing fountain is expensive to maintain, Rhorer said, and will be replaced by a lit, upgraded fountain that allows people to walk through and play in the water. The new fountain will boast 750 jets, he said.
The $3.5 million project is funded by state sales tax rebates, Rhorer said.
Gabe Vicknair, development project director for the DDD, said at Tuesday’s DDD commission meeting that construction workers are in the process of removing trees and demolishing part of the existing parapet wall on the west side of City Hall Plaza.
“It benefits the circulation into Repentance Park,” Vicknair said of the wall removal.
Rhorer called the progress so far on Repentance Park “a very dramatic difference.”
He said Repentance Park is about change in landforms and replicates the idea of the original levee.
“Having green space to utilize and use is paramount for building up a downtown area,” Rhorer said.
The space will benefit visitors, residents and office
workers, he said.
 
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Contact Emily Herrington at [email protected]