Galesburg Aldermen on Monday approved an agreement for a firm to prepare a grant application with the aim of beautifying a downtown parking lot.
Hutchinson Engineering would prepare the first of three grant applications the city plans on submitting to the State of Illinois Rebuild Downtowns and Main Streets Grant program.
The one-time grant program is designed to bring investments to revitalize commercial corridors and main street areas statewide.
This application is a reconstruction of Parking Lot H on E. Simmons St.
This reconstruction was proposed in the Downtown Development Plan that the council approved in 2016 and includes landscaping and resurfacing the lot, as well as adding covered areas for event use and parking.
It’s also proposed to reconstruct the sidewalks and curbing on Simmons Street from Cherry Street to Kellogg Street and add landscaping and decorative streetlights.
The project would tie into the Park Plaza project which was completed last year and would assist the businesses in the downtown area.
City Manager Todd Thompson says it’s the city’s intent to put in three different grant applications including renovating the upper stories to residential apartments of commercial buildings in the Downtown, and for the Railroad Hall of Fame.
