Improvements to Livingston’s Courthouse Square are nearly complete, with new lighting, seating, and sidewalks giving the area a brand new look.
Main Street Historic District Commission Chairman Gene Gantt said the contractor is finishing up installing some plants as the final touch to the square. Gantt said the upgrades have made the square more vibrant.
“They’ll notice a new fountain, the monuments have been slightly moved around so they are in better positions, they will notice that the street lights right now we have our veterans that paid the ultimate price up on our street lamps all around the square,” Gantt said.
Gantt said the project also consisted of establishing new seating areas around the square. Gantt said he expects business to kick back up on the square now that the construction is essentially complete and the holiday shopping season begins.
“The parking had been down just a little bit, but to tell you the truth, most of everybody reported that they didn’t really have a slowdown, even though parking was a bit of an issue,” Gantt said. “But now that all the parking places are open, I think we will see even more business coming into town.”
Gantt said the city has been working to get his project started for several years. Gantt said the project was desperately needed for the downtown area.
“The plaza was in bad shape; it was deteriorating,” Gantt said. “Some of the stamped concrete areas had broken apart and were crumbling, and the sidewalks were in terrible condition. And we had drainage problems that we needed to slope the water away from the courthouse. So that process actually took a very long time, as you can tell. A lot of state regulatory items that we had to go through. We had to get surveys done from a historical perspective and an archaeological perspective.”
Gantt said construction went smoothly, and the contractor is going to meet the four-month timeline. Gantt said he is impressed with how the upgrades turned out.
