MOUNT VERNON — Brooke Brown of Mount Vernon asked what’s happening at the corner of North Sandusky and West Chestnut streets.
The answer: Crews are working on an employee plaza for tenants of Heartland Commerce Park.
Jeff Gottke introduced the project at the June Municipal Planning Commission meeting. Gottke is the president of the Area Development Foundation and Knox County Land Bank.
On Wednesday, he told Knox Pages that the plaza project is part of refurbishing and improving all of HCP’s outdoor spaces.
“It will have features that workers on the property can utilize, such as a lunch area and outdoor work stations,” he said. “It will include food truck hookups and a recreational walking path.”
Additionally, the plaza will include an amphitheater-type design to accommodate large group meetings.
“We will include some historic kiosk or art in the employee plaza that explains the contribution Cooper Industries made to the local and national economy,” Gottke said.
“If you look at an overhead shot of the plaza, it was roughly designed to look like a Corliss engine, which Cooper’s is known for. We designed the plaza to be kind of a nod to the history of the company.”
The low wall will feature HCP-branded and company-name signs.
Other HCP improvements
The plaza is one of two employee-focused areas. The second is an outdoor break area in the property’s interior.
The area includes green space and the gazebo that was formerly at Riverview Park on South Gay Street.
Crews are repaving the existing parking lots at the commerce park. They will be similar to the lots on South Gay Street, with black fencing, brick pillars, and landscaping.
“We want to try and pull that look through town,” Gottke said.
The major pedestrian entrance to the commerce park will be on North Sandusky at Sugar Street.
It will showcase an archway connected to two pillars on either side of Sugar Street and incorporate the HCP logo, low black fencing, and landscaping.
The two parking lots adjacent to residences on the far west side of the complex will revert to grass.
The piles of debris in the parking lot off Greenwood Avenue are the millings and other spoils from the excavation and resurfacing of the parking lots.
The estimated project cost of $3 million is funded through various sources, including state demolition money and the Ariel Foundation.
Adena Corp. is handling the general trades. Buckingham Electric is doing the electrical work.
Gottke expects crews to complete the improvement project projects by November.
