Downtown Project Milestone on Friday

The largest public-private partnership in the history of Salina will be substantially completed by the end of this week. The Downtown Streetscape Project on Santa Fe Ave will will wind down on Friday.

According to the City of Salina, the final completion of Campbell Plaza, the Walnut Street intersection, and various landscaping items will be complete in early 2020.

The $160 million dollar downtown project is the largest public-private partnership in the history of Salina. It began back in April of 2018. It included underground waterline replacement along Santa Fe. Other highlights of the project which have been finished include:

  • Salina Fieldhouse
  • KU School of Medicine and Nursing
  • The Alley – bowling alley and family fun center
  • Drive-thru recycling center
  • Old Chicago restaurant

A downtown hotel project is progressing, as are several other projects including YaYa’s Euro Bistro and a Starbucks as part of the hotel project.

To celebrate the conclusion of this important project, the City Manager, City Commission, Salina 2020, Salina Downtown Inc., the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce, and Smoky Hill Construction, LLC (contractor) will hold a plaque dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony at Philips Plaza, (between Iron Street and Ash Street on Santa Fe Ave.), on Saturday, November 23 at 4:30 p.m.

The four overhead structures located on Santa Fe Ave. will be lit with colored lights for the first time at 6 p.m. to coincide with the beginning of the Parade of Lights. The parade route will be on Santa Fe Ave., beginning at Elm Street then commencing south to Prescott Ave.