City and state officials see a new public space breathing new life into Dover’s downtown.
Governor Markell was among those in downtown Dover Thursday to dedicate improvements at Loockerman Way Plaza. The $3 million project creates an open public space on the south side of Loockerman Street downtown while adding parking and brick sidewalks along West North Street. New lighting and police cameras have also been added to enhance public safety.
Downtown Dover Partnership president Gregory Moore says the space is designed to be Dover’s new public meeting space, hosting farmers' markets and holiday celebrations.
“Events outdoors are great for our businesses, they’re great to bring people to the downtown to recognize how good our downtown is," said Moore. We want people to leave and to go to our businesses and shop and go to the restaurants here and enjoy,” said Moore.
Starting in May, the plaza will host a farmers' market on Wednesdays throughout the summer.
While the over 200 parking spaces off of West North Street are a much-needed improvement according to Moore, he says there is still more work to be done at Loockerman Way Plaza.
“We’ve designed this actually to allow buildings to be on both sides sides of this plaza and the plaza remain," said Moore. "Our vision is that we could have restaurants and shops, offices along both sides and you could walk through the plaza and perhaps be sitting and having lunch watching people move by.”
The parking lots along West North Street are reserved for businesses until 5 p.m on weekdays when they are opened up to general public. The spaces are open to the public all day during weekends.
