Organizers estimate more than 200 people attended a presentation last night to learn about proposed projects to revitalize downtown Logansport. The meeting, organized by the City of Logansport & Logan’s Landing, was held in the fellowship hall at All Saints Catholic Church. The city plans to pursue two opportunities that could inject millions of dollars for redevelopment into the city’s downtown area. Letters of intent for the Stellar Communities designation and the America’s Best Communities award from Frontier Communications and Dish Network are due later this month. Community members are invited to take a downtown survey on the Logan’s Landing or City of Logansport websites through Thursday.
At a meeting last month, city officials presented an overview of the project, which focuses heavily on the Fourth Street Corridor.
The heart of the plan is a Civic Center for the Arts to be located on the west side of Fourth Street, between Market and Broadway. The facility could hold up to 700 people for weddings, conferences and other large-scale events.
Another piece of the project is a parking garage with up to 375 free parking spaces to be located east of the Logan Square building, in what’s now a county parking lot.
The element of the plan that has received the most attention from the public involves moving the community’s largest piece of public art -- the Cass County Carousel -- to the downtown arts and design district. Several people who attended last night’s meeting expressed concern about the effects moving the carousel would have on Riverside Park and vice versa. Proponents of the move say it would increase visibility for the carousel, in addition to moving it out of a floodplain designation which they say prevents the carousel from obtaining grants. When FEMA revised floodplain maps in the fall, the downtown area was removed from the 100 year floodplain. Barry Baldwin, a carousel board member, said the carousel’s board has agreed to consider the idea.
The city and Logan’s Landing have been working for several years to create a downtown arts district.
A purchase agreement is in place for a private developer to construct a senior housing development in the area of the current Farmer’s Market lot at Fourth and Market. The developer’s Logansport project was not awarded state tax credits in the most recent round announced last week, but city officials say the developer plans to apply again in the fall.
