Downtown Shreveport riverfront set for $1 million upgrade
The Shreveport’s downtown riverfront is about to receive a $1 million makeover, thanks to Mayor Cedric Glover’s successful lobbying for funding from the Red River Waterway Commission.
Construction along the riverfront just south of the Barnwell Center, 700 block of Clyde Fant Memorial Parkway, will break ground this month with a projected end date of late March 2015, according to Shreveport officials.
The Shreveport Riverview Phase II has been contracted out to the ELA Group and the Red River Waterway Commission will oversee the project. Pre-construction meetings between representatives from the city, the contractor and Kevin Bryan, the architect, have been positive and no delays are anticipated.
The project has three major components:
• New 4,500-square-foot tensile fabric stage cover with color-changing LED lighting beneath the tensile fabric, creating an iconic feature along the riverfront.
• New 750-square-foot “Green Room” with bathroom and dressing room located close to the stage with easy access for performers.
• New 750-square-foot restrooms for men and women, located near the dancing fountains, for public use.
“We believe these enhancements to RiverView Park will make the park a more vibrant, user friendly place for families and visitors,” Shelly Ragle, director of Shreveport’s Public Assembly and Recreation, said. “The improvements such as the green room and the stage covering will make it easier for event organizers to produce activities in the park.”
SPAR, along with a number of other groups and nonprofits in the area, host a variety of events in the park from concerts to movies under the stars. Ragle said having an onsite facility such as public restrooms will make the events she throws more accessible for others.
Currently when families go to enjoy events on the riverfront, they have to cross the busy thorough fair of Clyde Fant Memorial Parkway.
Shericka Davis, a Shreveport resident who frequents the SPAR water park area with her children during the summer says she can’t wait to have public restrooms on site so that her children can use them instead of having to cross the street.
“It’ll be a blessing not to cross the street with heavy traffic,” she said.
She said she hopes downtown continues to see changes like these.
Glover recently said in a news release that he is especially pleased to see this project moving forward because it represents the outcome of a citizen-led coalition in 2009 when public meetings were held to establish a list of priorities for improvements to one of the city’s most scenic areas – Shreveport’s riverfront.
“This is an excellent result for the efforts these dedicated citizens made to helping improve the landscape along our riverfront,” Glover said in a new release Oct. 20. “This is an area frequented by thousands and thousands of people so we need to do everything we can to make it as accommodating and aesthetically pleasing as possible.”
Currently the riverfront is home to Eldorado Casino and Resort, the former Barnwell Center and SPAR’s RiverView Park, which includes the dancing fountains, large fountain and stage area. The park is used for a multitude of events including Shreveport’s yearly Dragon Boat festival and the Barkus and Meow Pet Parade, among others.
“We are thrilled about the renovations to downtown’s riverfront,” Michael Whitemaine, general manager of Eldorado, said. “The influx of events will be beneficial for downtown as a whole, ideally increasing the spotlight on what the city has to offer.”
The park is used for a multitude of events including Shreveport’s yearly Dragon Boat festival and the Barkus and Meow Pet Parade, among others.
“These are wise investments, as improvements at RiverView Park will only enhance the community’s and visitors’ experiences with downtown Shreveport and special events held at the riverfront,” Francesca Moreland, public relations chair for The Dragon Boat Festival, said. “With the growing popularity of Rotary Club of Shreveport’s Annual Red River Dragon Boat Festival, which is centrally located in the RiverView Plaza, more out of town visitors are coming to our city every year and local residents also get to enjoy recreation at a unique focal point in our community.”
“The Red River and RiverView Park are important assets in our community that should not only be preserved, but maximized to spur more opportunities to augment the quality of life here,” Moreland said.
–Derick Jones
